Noah Webster
Drone
DRONE, noun [G., to tinkle, to shake, to tingle.]
1. The male of the honey bee. It is smaller than the queen bee, but larger than the working bee. The drones make no honey, but after living a few weeks, they are killed or driven from the hive. Hence,
2. An idler; a sluggard; one who earns nothing by industry.
3. A humming or low sound, or the instrument of humming.
4. The largest tube of the bag-pipe, which emits a continued deep note.
DRONE, verb intransitive
1. To live in idleness; as a droning king.
2. To give a low, heavy, dull sound; as the cymbals droning sound.