drone

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English[edit]

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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”).

In sense "unmanned aircraft", due to early military UAVs dumbly flying on preset paths.[1]

Noun[edit]

drone (plural drones)

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  1. A male bee or wasp, which does not work but can fertilise the queen.
    • Dryden
      All with united force combine to drive / The lazy drones from the laborious hive.
  2. (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.
    • Burton
      By living as a drone, to be an unprofitable and unworthy member of so noble and learned a society.
  3. A remotely controlled aircraft, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).
    • 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.
    • 2013 June 7, Ed Pilkington, “‘Killer robots’ should be banned in advance, UN told”, The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, page 6: 
      In his submission to the UN, [Christof] Heyns points to the experience of drones. Unmanned aerial vehicles were intended initially only for surveillance, and their use for offensive purposes was prohibited, yet once strategists realised their perceived advantages as a means of carrying out targeted killings, all objections were swept out of the way.
    Strikes from drones take many innocent lives.
Usage notes[edit]

In sense "unmanned aircraft", primarily used informally of military aircraft or consumer radio controlled quadcopters, without precise definition.[1]

Hyponyms[edit]
Translations[edit]
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.
Translations to be checked
See also[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

From Middle English drounen (“to roar, bellow”), ultimately perhaps from Proto-Germanic *drunjaną (“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)

  1. To produce a low-pitched hum or buzz.
  2. To speak in a monotone way.

Noun[edit]

drone (plural drones)

  1. A low-pitched hum or buzz.
  2. (Discuss(+) this sense) One who performs menial or tedious work; a drudge.
  3. One of the fixed-pitch pipes on a bagpipe.
  4. A genre of music similar to that of noise.
  5. A humming or deep murmuring sound.
    • Longfellow
      The monotonous drone of the wheel.
Translations[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Flying Robots 101: Everything You Need To Know About Drones, Kelsey D. Atherton, March 7, 2013

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 n)

  1. (archaic) a male bee or wasp; a drone
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 n)

  1. a remotely controlled aircraft; a drone

Italian[edit]

Noun[edit]

drone m (invariable)

  1. drone (unmanned aircraft)

Anagrams[edit]

Norwegian Bokmål[edit]

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Etymology[edit]

From Middle Low German drone (sense 1), and English drone (sense 2).

Noun[edit]

drone m (definite singular dronen, indefinite plural droner, definite plural dronene)

  1. a drone (male bee)
  2. a drone (radio-controlled pilotless aircraft)

References[edit]

Norwegian Nynorsk[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

drone m (definite singular dronen, indefinite plural dronar, definite plural dronane)

  1. drone (male bee)
  2. drone (unmanned aircraft)

Synonyms[edit]

References[edit]

Portuguese[edit]

Noun[edit]

drone m (plural drones)

  1. drone (unmanned aircraft)
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