drone

/droʊn/

/drəʊn/

Other forms: drones; droning; droned

To drone is to make a low, continuous noise that sounds like humming or buzzing. On summer nights, you might hear cicadas drone, and on snowy winter mornings, hear your neighbor's snow blower drone.

Like animals and machines, people drone too, their voices sounding dull and tedious: "When my history teacher drones on, it's hard to stay awake." Drone is also a noun, meaning the monotonous sound itself, like the drone of a boring lecture; or a male worker bee; or a person who's as unambitious as a worker bee. Finally, there are the drones that fly by remote control, doing surveillance, gathering weather information, and occasionally firing missiles for the military.

Definitions of drone

1. verb

   make a monotonous low dull sound
   “The harmonium was droning on”

   type of:

   go, sound

   make a certain noise or sound
2. verb

   talk in a monotonous voice
   synonyms: drone on

   type of:

   mouth, speak, talk, utter, verbalise, verbalize

   express in speech
3. noun

   an unchanging intonation
   synonyms: droning, monotone

   type of:

   cadence, intonation, modulation, pitch contour

   rise and fall of the voice pitch
4. noun

   a pipe of the bagpipe that is tuned to produce a single continuous tone
   synonyms: bourdon, drone pipe

   type of:

   pipe

   a tubular wind instrument
5. noun

   stingless male bee in a colony of social bees (especially honeybees) whose sole function is to mate with the queen
   type of:

   bee

   any of numerous hairy-bodied insects including social and solitary species
6. noun

   an aircraft without a pilot and operated by remote control
   synonyms: pilotless aircraft, radio-controlled aircraft

   type of:

   heavier-than-air craft

   a non-buoyant aircraft that requires a source of power to hold it aloft and to propel it
7. noun

   one who works hard at boring tasks
   synonyms: drudge, flunky, hack, hacker

   types:

   plodder, slogger

   someone who works slowly and monotonously for long hours

   type of:

   unskilled person

   a person who lacks technical training
8. noun

   an idler who lives off of the work of other people
   type of:

   bum, do-nothing, idler, layabout, loafer

   person who does no work
9. noun

   someone who takes more time than necessary; someone who lags behind
   synonyms: dawdler, laggard, lagger, poke, trailer

   types:

   lingerer, loiterer

   someone who lingers aimlessly in or about a place

   plodder, slowcoach, slowpoke, stick-in-the-mud

   someone who moves slowly

   potterer, putterer

   a person who putters about

   straggler, strayer

   someone who strays or falls behind

   type of:

   bum, do-nothing, idler, layabout, loafer

   person who does no work