Hyper Dictionary

English Dictionary Computer Dictionary Thesaurus Dream Dictionary Medical Dictionary


Search Dictionary:  

Meaning of DRONE

Pronunciation:  drown

WordNet Dictionary
 
 Definition: 
  1. [n]  stingless male bee in a colony of social bees (especially honeybees) whose sole function is to mate with the queen
  2. [n]  a pipe of the bagpipe that is tuned to produce a single continuous tone
  3. [n]  an aircraft without a pilot that is operated by remote control
  4. [n]  an unchanging intonation
  5. [n]  someone who takes more time than necessary; someone who lags behind
  6. [v]  talk in a monotonous voice
  7. [v]  make a monotonous low dull sound
 
 Websites: 
 
 Synonyms: bourdon, dawdler, drone on, drone pipe, droning, laggard, lagger, monotone, pilotless aircraft, radio-controlled aircraft, trailer
 
 See Also: bagpipe, bee, bum, do-nothing, go, heavier-than-air craft, idler, intonation, layabout, lingerer, loafer, loiterer, modulation, mouth, pipe, pipes, pitch contour, plodder, potterer, putterer, slowcoach, slowpoke, sound, speak, stick-in-the-mud, straggler, strayer, tabor pipe, talk, utter, verbalise, verbalize

 

 

Webster's 1913 Dictionary
 
 Definition: 
  1. \Drone\, n. [OE. drane a dronebee, AS. dr[=a]n; akin to
OS. dr[=a]n, OHG. treno, G. drohne, Dan. drone, cf. Gr. ? a
kind of wasp, dial. Gr. ? drone. Prob. named fr. the droning
sound. See {Drone}, v. i.]
1. (Zo["o]l.) The male of bees, esp. of the honeybee. It
   gathers no honey. See {Honeybee}.
         All with united force combine to drive The lazy
         drones from the laborious hive.       --Dryden.
2. One who lives on the labors of others; a lazy, idle
   fellow; a sluggard.
         By living as a drone,to be an unprofitable and
         unworthy member of so noble and learned a society.
                                               -- Burton.
3. That which gives out a grave or monotonous tone or dull
   sound; as:
   (a) A drum. [Obs.] Halliwell.
   (b) The part of the bagpipe containing the two lowest
       tubes, which always sound the key note and the fifth.
4. A humming or deep murmuring sound.
         The monotonous drone of the wheel.    --Longfellow.
5. (Mus.) A monotonous bass, as in a pastoral composition.

  2. \Drone\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Droned}; p. pr. & vb. n.
{Droning}.] [Cf. (for sense 1) D. dreunen, G. dr["o]hnen,
Icel. drynja to roar, drynr a roaring, Sw. dr["o]na to
bellow, drone, Dan. dr["o]ne, Goth. drunjus sound, Gr. ?
dirge, ? to cry aloud, Skr. dhran to sound. Cf. {Drone}, n.]
1. To utter or make a low, dull, monotonous, humming or
   murmuring sound.
         Where the beetle wheels his droning flight. --T.
                                               Gray.
2. To love in idleness; to do nothing. ``Race of droning
   kings.'' --Dryden.
 
Thesaurus Terms
 
 Related Terms: accompaniment, alliteration, alto, array, articulation, assonance, bagpipe, bagpipes, bank, baritone, bass, basso continuo, basso ostinato, bassus, bee, beggar, birr, blubber, bombilate, bombinate, boom, bourdon, bum, bumble, bumblebee, bummer, burden, burr, buzz, cadger, canto, cantus, cantus figuratus, cantus planus, catena, catenation, chain, chain reaction, chaining, chanter, chest voice, chime, clockwork regularity, coloratura, concatenation, connection, consecution, constancy, continue the same, continuo, continuum, contralto, cornemuse, coupon clippers, course, cycle, daily round, dawdle, dawdler, descant, descent, dingdong, doodlesack, drag along, drag on, drone bass, droning, endless belt, endless round, even pace, even tenor, falsetto, figured bass, file, filiation, foot-dragger, freeloader, gabble, gamut, gibber, gibbering, goldbrick, goof-off, gradation, ground bass, harping, head voice, honeybee, hornet, hum, humdrum, idle rich, Indian file, invariability, jabber, jibber, jingle, jingle-jangle, laggard, lallygag, laze, leisure class, lie-abed, line, lineage, lingerer, loaf, loiter, loiterer, loll, lounge, lounge lizard, lumpen proletariat, maunder, maundering, mendicant, monologue, monotone, monotonousness, monotony, moocher, mouth, mouthing, mumble, mumbling, murmur, murmuring, musette, mutter, muttering, near rhyme, nexus, nonworker, orderliness, panhandler, parasite, part, pendulum, periodicity, persist, pipes, pitter-patter, plain chant, plain song, plenum, plodder, powder train, prevail, prick song, procrastinator, progression, purr, queen, queen bee, queue, range, rank, recurrence, regularity, rentiers, repeated sounds, repetitiousness, repetitiveness, reticulation, rhyme, rotation, round, routine, row, run, run through, sameliness, sameness, scale, sequence, series, single file, singsong, slant rhyme, sleepyhead, slow goer, slowbelly, slow-foot, slowpoke, slug, sluggard, smoothness, snail, sob, soprano, sordellina, speak incoherently, spectrum, spiv, splutter, sponger, sputter, stale repetition, stick-in-the-mud, string, strum, succession, susurrate, susurration, swath, tedium, tenor, the unemployable, the unemployed, thorough bass, thread, thrum, tier, tortoise, train, treadmill, treble, trot, undersong, undeviation, undifferentiation, union pipes, unnecessary repetition, unvariation, voce, voce di petto, voce di testa, voice, voice part, wasp, whir, whisper, whispering, whiz, windrow, worker, yellow jacket
 

 

 

 

COPYRIGHT © 2000-2003 WEBNOX CORP. HOME | ABOUT HYPERDICTIONARY