DRONE

I. noun Etymology: Middle English, from Old English drān; akin to Old High German treno ~, Greek thrēnos dirge Date: before 12th century the male of a bee (as the honeybee) that has no sting and gathers no honey, one that lives on the labors of others ; parasite , an unmanned aircraft or ship guided by remote control, 4. drudge 1, drudge 2, II. verb (~d; droning) Date: circa 1520 intransitive verb 1. to make a sustained deep murmuring, humming, or buzzing sound , to talk in a persistently dull or monotonous tone , to pass, proceed, or act in a dull, drowsy, or indifferent manner , transitive verb to utter or pronounce with a ~, to pass or spend in dull or monotonous activity or in idleness, ~r noun droningly adverb III. noun Date: circa 1520 a deep sustained or monotonous sound ; hum , an instrument or part of an instrument (as one of the fixed-pitch pipes of a bagpipe) that sounds a continuous unvarying tone, pedal point