From Middle English drane, dron, drone, from Old English drān, drǣn, from Proto-West Germanic *drānu, from Proto-Germanic *drenô, *drēnuz (“drone”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰreh₁n- (“bee, drone, hornet”). Cognates Cognate with Saterland Frisian Droane (“drone”), Dutch dar (“drone”), German Drohne (“drone”), Limburgish dreen, Droon (“drone”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, and Norwegian Nynorsk drone (“drone”), Swedish drönare (“drone”); also Belarusian тру́цень (trúcjenʹ, “drone”), Bulgarian търтей (tǎrtej, “drone”), Czech trubec (“drone”), Macedonian трут (trut, “drone”), Polish trąd, trut, truteń (“drone”), Russian and Ukrainian тру́тень (trútenʹ, “drone”), Serbo-Croatian тру̑т, trȗt (“drone”), Slovak trúd (“drone”), Slovene trot (“drone”). The etymology of the sense of "remote-controlled aircraft" is disputed; theories include early military UAVs dumbly flying on preset paths.
A male ant, bee, or wasp, which does not work but can fertilize the queen.
All with united force combine to drive / The lazy drones from the laborious hive.1697, Virgil, “The Fourth Book of the Georgics”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
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Archaic One who does not work; a lazy person, an idler.
SHYLOCK: / The patch is kind enough, but a huge feeder, / Snail-slow in profit, and he sleeps by day / More than the wild-cat; drones hive not with me; / Therefore I part with him; and part with him / To one what I would have him help to waste / His borrowed purse. […]c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene v]:
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, Kupperman, published 1988, page 117:
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by living as a drone, to be an unprofitable or unworthy member of so learned and noble a society1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC:
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One who performs menial or tedious work.
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Any remotely operated or autonomous vehicle for land, sea, air, or space.
aerial drones
sea drones
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land drones
space drones
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An aircraft operated by remote control, especially an uncrewed/unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).
Near-synonyms: UAV, UAS, OPV, RPV, FPV
Several images of the compound were obtained via a drone overflight.
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One team member launched a camera drone over the Third Pole.
An atomic tested Flying Fortress will make a nonstop flight from Florida, and from the time the first engine kicks over until the last propeller stops spinning at Bolling, no hands will touch the controls. A radio controlled drone, it will make the journey with its mother ship, another Fortress, as part of the Experimental Guided Missiles Group contribution to the demonstration.1948 September 23, “Air Force Day”, in U.S. Air Services, page 6:
The United Nations is setting up a unit to investigate American drone strikes and other targeted killings of terrorist suspects, Ben Emmerson, the United Nations special rapporteur on counterterrorism and human rights, said Thursday.2012 October 25, Scott Shane, “Drone Strikes to Be Investigated”, in New York Times:
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”, in The Economist, volume 405, number 8813, page 3:
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Government, Maritime, Military, Nautical, Politics, Transport, War Any remotely operated or autonomous underwater vehicle, especially when multiple such vehicles are operated from a larger vessel.
Near-synonyms: ROV, ROUV, UUV, AUV
The Apex boat is a small radio-controlled craft which tows, at an angle, two Drone boats. The latter are small craft filled with explosives to be detonated from the control radio of the Apex boat.1946, Seventh United States Army in France and Germany, Report of Operations, volume 1, page 73:
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Firefish, a drone boat, is the second radio-controlled target used by the detachment. A 17-foot fiber glass craft, it weighs 1700 pounds and operates from the support ship by remote control at a range of up to five miles using tracking radar.1968 July 23, “Long-Distance Crews”, in All Hands, number 618, page 27:
There, in the heart of a desert target range, operates a fleet of remote-control QM-56 mobile land drones, more familiarly described as modified tanks.1968 September 23, “Desert Tank Corps”, in All Hands, number 620, page 13:
"Libya obtained a remote controlled explosive boat system consisting of 30-knot drone boats packed with high explosives controlled from a cabin cruiser type craft," Butts told the seapower and strategic and critical materials subcomittee.1984 March 1, UPI, “Libya owns drone boats, Navy says”, in Eugene Register-Guard, page 2:
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Any watercraft on the water's surface that is remotely operated or autonomous.
Near-synonyms: USV (remotely operated), ASV (autonomous)
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Any UGV (uncrewed ground vehicle).
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Uganda A Toyota HiAce or a similar van, especially one used by Ugandan state agents to kidnap opposition members.
The van is locally referred to as "a drone" because it is compact and stable under extreme conditions. It is also very fast. Technically though, it is a Toyota Hiace, which is usually used for commercial purposes.2021 February 4, Alex Mugasha, “Why Uganda's security agencies have fallen in love with the "Drone" van”, in Nile Post:
He has been arrested several times, transported in drone vans and brutalized in various detention facilities.2021 February 4, Kakwenza Rukirabashaija, “Horror inside a kidnap drone”, in The Observer:
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The Toyota Hiace is a light commercial van that can be used as a minibus, a taxi, or even an ambulance. But in Uganda, the "drone" has a sinister reputation. Chris Atukwasize, a cartoonist at the Daily Monitor newspaper, dubbed it the #WheelsOfSteal and rendered it as a skull: brake lights dripping blood, its front grille a row of teeth, and hands plastered behind its tinted back windows, pleading for help.2021 March 3, Liam Taylor, “They came in plainclothes with guns: 'Abducted' by Uganda's army”, in Al Jazeera:
Earlier this week, Deputy Speaker of Parliament Thomas Tayebwa summoned the Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja together with the Ministers of Security and Internal Affairs and parliamentary whips to address the said return of drones on the streets.2022 October 2, Sam Waswa, “UPDF Probes Drone Raid at Journalist's Home”, in Chimp Reports:
A minibus van, often numberless and dubbed the 'drone', gained notoriety for kidnaps and disappearances.2022 October 20, Albert K Awedoba, Andreas Mehler, Benedikt Kamski, David Sebudubudu, Africa Yearbook, volume 18, →ISBN, page 419:
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Derogatory, Slang One who lacks the ability to think critically and independently, especially one who follows a group blindly; a non-player character.
The billionaire-friendly media drones and frenzied multiculturalist politicians are imposing "vibrant" third world social violence onto Australians, and Australians don't get to vote against this "bipartisan" conspiracy. The hyperactive globalist politicians and media drones might find themselves facing firing squads if they don't change their corrupt ways.2009 December 18, Benway (original non-Zionist), “Shocking Jewish faggot property pimp attack on Australia”, in aus.politics (Usenet):
Instead, you got into lockstep with all the other hive-mind libtard drones and voted for the slimy corrupt scumbag bitch who was under *two* active Congressional investigations (a first in history, BTW), Hitlery Clinton.2017 January 19, The Party Of Trump (The Party For Winners), “Re: Clinton Cash”, in alt.checkmate (Usenet):
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BDSM, Lifestyle, Sexuality In dronification kink, one who is mindless and obedient to a dominant, characterized by a detached and robotic identity and an anonymous appearance, typically composed of a latex suit and gas mask.
From Middle English drane, dron, drone, from Old English drān, drǣn, from Proto-West Germanic *drānu, from Proto-Germanic *drenô, *drēnuz (“drone”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰreh₁n- (“bee, drone, hornet”). Cognates Cognate with Saterland Frisian Droane (“drone”), Dutch dar (“drone”), German Drohne (“drone”), Limburgish dreen, Droon (“drone”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, and Norwegian Nynorsk drone (“drone”), Swedish drönare (“drone”); also Belarusian тру́цень (trúcjenʹ, “drone”), Bulgarian търтей (tǎrtej, “drone”), Czech trubec (“drone”), Macedonian трут (trut, “drone”), Polish trąd, trut, truteń (“drone”), Russian and Ukrainian тру́тень (trútenʹ, “drone”), Serbo-Croatian тру̑т, trȗt (“drone”), Slovak trúd (“drone”), Slovene trot (“drone”). The etymology of the sense of "remote-controlled aircraft" is disputed; theories include early military UAVs dumbly flying on preset paths.
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Colloquial To kill or destroy with a drone (unmanned aircraft), or with a missile fired by a drone.
"I have a lot of advice for him," Ayers said in the interview, aired Tuesday night. "I want him to stop droning people. I want him to close Guantanamo. I want universal healthcare. Don't you think we deserve universal healthcare? Seriously."2014, Colin Campbell, “Bill Ayers To Obama: 'Stop Droning People'”, in Business Insider:
“He won’t be waging wars all the world ― he’ll be waging ‘warsuits,’” Noah said. “Droning people with subpoenas all over the globe.”2016, David Moye, “Trevor Noah: If Trump Is Elected, He’ll Wage ‘Warsuits’”, in Huffington Post:
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“Are we still droning people? Yeah,” he said. “Are we still running covert operations that weren’t authorized by Congress? Yeah. Is the government still spying on Americans without warrants? Without due process. Yeah. When some libertarians talk about the great accomplishments we’re seeing on foreign policy, I don’t know what they’re talking about. Reaching out to these guys is one thing, but you have to move down the court. [Trump] actually made it harder for us to have a good relationship with Russia.”2018, David Weigel, “The new ‘Dr. No’: Rep. Justin Amash, marooned in Congress”, in Washington Post:
Even Yemen's Houthi rebels can fuel global inflation by droning ships.2025 June 28, Simon Kuper, “How war became contagious”, in FT Weekend (Life & Arts section), London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 18:
drone
verb
Etymology From Middle English drounen (“to roar, bellow”), from Proto-West Germanic *drunnjan, 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”).
Etymology From Middle English drounen (“to roar, bellow”), from Proto-West Germanic *drunnjan, 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”).
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A low-pitched hum or buzz.
He chanted as he flew and the car responded with sonorous drone.1908, Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows:
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Entertainment, Lifestyle, Music One of the fixed-pitch pipes on a bagpipe.
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Entertainment, Lifestyle, Music A genre of music that uses repeated lengthy droning sounds.
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A humming or deep murmuring sound.
The monotonous drone of the wheel.1847 November 1, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Evangeline, a Tale of Acadie, Boston, Mass.: William D. Ticknor & Company, →OCLC, (please specify either |part=I or II):