<B>drone</B> (2), verb, <B>droned,</B> <B>droning,</B> noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>v.i. </I> <B>1. </B>to make a deep, continuous humming sound. <BR> <I>Ex. Bees droned among the flowers.</I> <DD><B> 2a. </B>to talk in a monotonous tone. <BR> <I>Ex. Several people in the audience fell asleep as the speaker droned on.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>(Figurative:) <BR> <I>Ex. The meeting droned on, but Don Hewitt had lost all interest (Time).</I> <DD><I>v.t. </I> to say in a monotonous voice. <BR> <I>Ex. The weary beggar droned a prayer.</I> <DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a deep, continuous humming sound. <BR> <I>Ex. the drone of mosquitoes. The hikers heard the drone of a far-off motorcar.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Music.) <DD><B> a. </B>a bass pipe of a bagpipe. <DD><B> b. </B>the continuous tone produced by bass pipes. <DD><B> c. </B>a bagpipe or similar instrument. <DD><B> 3. </B>a monotonous speaker. </DL>
<A NAME="drongo">
<B>drongo, </B>noun, pl. <B>-gos</B> or <B>-goes.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>any one of various crowlike, insect-eating birds of Asia and Africa, with long, forked tails. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Australian Slang.) a silly or stupid person. </DL>
<B>droning, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>making a dull, monotonous sound. <DD><B> 2. </B>in a monotonous tone. <BR> <I>Ex. a droning lecture on a dull subject.</I> adv. <B>droningly.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="dronish">
<B>dronish, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> like a drone; lazy; inactive. </DL>
<A NAME="drool">
<B>drool, </B>verb, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>v.i. </I> <B>1. </B>to let saliva run from the mouth as a teething baby does; drivel. <BR> <I>Ex. Although all infants usually do some drooling at one time or another, saliva running from a baby's mouth may often be an indication that he's hungry (Sidonie M. Gruenberg).</I> (SYN) slaver. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Slang, Figurative.) to talk foolishly. <DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>saliva running from the mouth. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Slang, Figurative.) foolish talk; drivel; nonsense. <BR> <I>Ex. The Guardian was one of the first papers to print weekly pieces commenting on trends in religion in preference to the pious drool often favoured elsewhere in Fleet Street (Punch).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="droop">
<B>droop, </B>verb, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>v.i. </I> <B>1. </B>to hang down; bend down. <BR> <I>Ex. These flowers will soon droop if they are not put in water. His eyelids drooped as he tried to fight off sleep.</I> (SYN) sag. <DD><B> 2. </B>to become weak; lose strength and energy. <BR> <I>Ex. The hikers were drooping by the end of their walk in the hot sun. The old woman's body drooped with weariness.</I> (SYN) sink, languish. <DD><B> 3. </B>to become discouraged or depressed; be sad and gloomy. <BR> <I>Ex. In the summer, my sister drooped around the house because all her friends went to camp.</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>to go down; sink. <BR> <I>Ex. As sunset approached the sun drooped in the western sky.</I> <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to hang down; let sink lower. <DD><B> 2. </B>to turn (the eyes or face) toward the ground. <DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>the act or fact of hanging down; a bending position. <BR> <I>Ex. The droop of the branches brought them within our reach.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>Also, <B>Droop.</B> a wide, loose, flowing dress similar to the tent dress. <BR> <I>Ex. On Fifth Avenue, the droops were out in droves, completely concealing even the shapeliest women's protrusions (New York Times).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="drooping">
<B>drooping, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>that droops; hanging or bending down. <BR> <I>Ex. Keep my drooping eyelids open wide (Shakespeare).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>losing strength and energy. <DD><B> 3. </B>discouraged; depressed. adv. <B>droopingly.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="droopnose">
<B>droop nose</B> or <B>snoot,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> an aircraft nose or foremost point that can be deflected to permit better visibility in landing. </DL>
