drone

1. To make a continuous low dull humming sound: "Somewhere an electric fan droned without end" (William Styron).
2. To speak in a monotonous tone: The lecturer droned on for hours.
3. To pass or act in a monotonous way.

1. A continuous low humming or buzzing sound.
2. Music.
   1. Any of the pipes of a bagpipe that lack finger holes and produce a single tone.
   2. A long sustained tone.
   3. Any of various instruments that produce only a constant pitch.

[From DRONE¹ (from the bee's humming sound).]

verb

To make a continuous low-pitched droning sound: bumble², burr, buzz, hum, whir, whiz. See sounds/pleasant sounds/unpleasant sounds/neutral sounds or silence.

noun

A continuous low-pitched droning sound: bumble², burr, buzz, hum, whir, whiz. See sounds/pleasant sounds/unpleasant sounds/neutral sounds or silence.

The noun has 5 meanings:

Meaning #1: stingless male bee in a colony of social bees (especially honeybees) whose sole function is to mate with the queen

Meaning #2: an unchanging intonation
  Synonyms: monotone, droning

Meaning #3: someone who takes more time than necessary; someone who lags behind
  Synonyms: dawdler, laggard, lagger, trailer

Meaning #4: an aircraft without a pilot that is operated by remote control
  Synonyms: pilotless aircraft, radio-controlled aircraft

Meaning #5: a pipe of the bagpipe that is tuned to produce a single continuous tone
  Synonyms: drone pipe, bourdon

The verb drone has 2 meanings:

Meaning #1: make a monotonous low dull sound

Meaning #2: talk in a monotonous voice
  Synonym: drone on

Look up drone in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Drone may refer to:

Contents 1 Nature 2 Vehicles 3 Literature 4 Film, television and video games 5 Music

Nature

The male caste of social Hymenopterans, such as a

• Drone (bee)
• male wasp
• male ant

To be tired or mad

Vehicles

A teleoperated or autonomous vehicle:

• Unmanned aerial vehicles
• Target drones
• Remotely operated underwater vehicles
• Unmanned ground vehicles

Literature

• Detective Drone, the hero of Victorian crime stories
• A member of the Drones Club in P. G. Wodehouse's novels
• An intelligent machine in the Culture novel series

Film, television and video games

• "Drone" (Voyager episode), an episode of Star Trek: Voyager
• A humanoid that has been assimilated by the Borg in the Star Trek universe
• Drone Weapon, similar to a guided missile, in the Stargate universe
• Three robotic helpers in the film Silent Running
• An antagonistic race in the Halo (series)
• Drones in Starcraft (The worker units of the Zerg).
• The infantry of the Locust Horde in the Gears of War (series)

Music

• Drone (music), a continuous note or chord, or the part of various musical instruments that produces such a sound
• Drone music, a musical style
• The Drones, an Australian band
• The Drones (British band)
• Drone Records, a record label
• A bumbass, a folk instrument sometimes called a drone
• A song by the band Rise Against on the album The Sufferer & the Witness

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