drone
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English[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Etymology 1[edit]
From Middle English drone, from Old English drān, drǣn (“male bee, drone”), from Proto-Germanic *drēniz, *drēnuz, *drenô (“an insect, drone”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰrēn- (“bee, drone, hornet”). Cognate with Dutch drone (“male bee or wasp”), Low German drone (“drone”), German Drohne, dialectal German Dräne, Trehne, Trene (“drone”), Danish drone (“drone”), Swedish drönje, drönare (“drone”).
Noun[edit]
drone (plural drones)
- A male bee or wasp, which does not work but can fertilise the queen (Wikipedia).
- (now rare) Someone who doesn't work; a lazy person, an idler.
- 1624, John Smith, Generall Historie, in Kupperman 1988, p. 117:
- he that gathereth not every day as much as I doe, the next day shall be set beyond the river, and be banished from the Fort as a drone, till he amend his conditions or starve.
- 1624, John Smith, Generall Historie, in Kupperman 1988, p. 117:
- A remotely controlled aircraft, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV, Wikipedia).
- 2012 December 1, “An internet of airborne things”, The Economist, volume 405, number 8813, page 3 (Technology Quarterly):
- A farmer could place an order for a new tractor part by text message and pay for it by mobile money-transfer. A supplier many miles away would then take the part to the local matternet station for airborne dispatch via drone.
- 2012 December 1, “An internet of airborne things”, The Economist, volume 405, number 8813, page 3 (Technology Quarterly):
Translations[edit]
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
See also[edit]
Etymology 2[edit]
From Middle English drounen (“to roar, bellow”), ultimately perhaps from Proto-Germanic *drunjanan (“to drone, roar, make a sound”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰer- (“to roar, hum, drone”). Cognate with Scots drune (“to drone, moan, complain”), Dutch dreunen (“to drone, boom, thud”), Low German drönen (“to drone, buzz, hum”), German dröhnen (“to roar, boom, rumble”), Danish drøne (“to roar, boom, peel out”), Swedish dröna (“to low, bellow, roar”), Icelandic drynja (“to roar”).
Verb[edit]
drone (third-person singular simple present drones, present participle droning, simple past and past participle droned)
Noun[edit]
drone (plural drones)
- A low-pitched hum or buzz.
- 1908, Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows
- He chanted as he flew and the car responded with sonorous drone.
- 1908, Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows
- One who performs menial or tedious work; a drudge.
- One of the fixed-pitch pipes on a bagpipe.
- A genre of music similar to that of noise.
Translations[edit]
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Anagrams[edit]
Dutch[edit]
Etymology 1[edit]
From Middle Dutch drone (“bee drone”). Doublette with drone (“unmanned aircraft”), which was borrowed from English.
Noun[edit]
drone m (plural dronen, diminutive droontje)
Synonyms[edit]
Etymology 2[edit]
From English drone (“aircraft drone”). Doublette with drone (“male bee”), which descended from Middle Dutch.
Noun[edit]
drone m (plural drones, diminutive droontje)
- a remotely controlled aircraft; a drone
Italian[edit]
Noun[edit]
drone m (invariable)
- drone (unmanned aircraft)
Anagrams[edit]
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with rare senses
- English verbs
- Dutch terms derived from Middle Dutch
- Dutch nouns
- Dutch archaic terms
- Dutch terms derived from English
- Italian nouns
