Drone1. (n.) The male of bees, esp. of the honeybee. It gathers no honey. See Honeybee.
2. (n.) One who lives on the labors of others; a lazy, idle fellow; a sluggard.
3. (v. i.) 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. (n.) A humming or deep murmuring sound.
5. (n.) A monotonous bass, as in a pastoral composition.
6. (n.) To utter or make a low, dull, monotonous, humming or murmuring sound.
7. (n.) To love in idleness; to do nothing.
Thesaurus Entries
Indian file, 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, 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, slow-foot, slowbelly, 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