different between purr vs drone

English

Etymology

Onomatopoeic.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /p??(?)/
• Rhymes: -??(?)
• Homophone: per

Verb

purr (third-person singular simple present purrs, present participle purring, simple past and past participle purred)

1. (intransitive) Of a cat, to make a vibrating sound in its throat when contented.
2. (transitive) To say (something) in a throaty, seductive manner.
   • 2008, C. E. Osborne, Black Gold Death in the Sun (page 12)

     "This is Cindy," she purred again, flashing a smile of perfect white teeth surrounded by full red lips.

3. (intransitive) To make a vibrating throaty sound, as from pleasure.

   He purred like a kitten when she massaged his neck.

4. (intransitive, of an engine) To make a low and consistent rumbling sound.
   • 2001, E. C. Craver, Last Reunion (page 159)

     Beverly passed the city limits sign with the Porsche's motor purring contentedly after its two hundred and fifty-mile romp.

Derived terms

• purrer

Translations

Noun

purr (plural purrs)

1. The vibrating sound made by a cat in its throat when contented.
   • 1918, Sarath Kumar Ghosh, The wonders of the jungle - Volume 2 (page 113)

     Instead, the tiger looked around, and gave a purr, and then a growl. What did that mean? The man could not tell. Then the tiger just flung upon the man some of the sand from the side of the hollow.

2. A throaty, seductive sound of pleasure made by a person.
   • 2006, Brenda Williamson, Wolverton Blood (page 53)

     The trill of her purr echoed inside his mouth when he kissed her again. Clutching at his shirt, her fingers traveled the muscles in his back.

3. The low consistent rumble made by an engine at slow speed
   • 1997, Susan Wood, A Fly in Amber (page 191)

     I sat still in the car and listened to the soft purr of the engine and my beating heart. Then slowly, and as silently as possible, I drove the car back to camp.

Derived terms

• purrlike

Translations

Interjection

purr

1. Throat vibrating sound made by a cat.

Translations

See also

• meow

Anagrams

• RURP

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /d???n/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /d?o?n/
• Rhymes: -??n

Etymology 1

From Middle English drane, from Old English dr?n, from Proto-West Germanic *dr?nu, from Proto-Germanic *dr?niz, *dr?nuz, *drenô (“an insect, drone”), from Proto-Indo-European *d?r?n- (“bee, drone, hornet”).

Cognate with Dutch drone (“male bee or wasp”), Low German drone (“drone”), German Drohne, dialectal German Dräne, Trehne, Trene (“drone”), Danish drone (“drone”), Swedish drönje, drönare (“drone”).

In sense “unmanned aircraft”, due to early military UAVs dumbly flying on preset paths. The verb sense derives from this sense.

Noun

drone (plural drones)

1. A male ant, bee or wasp, which does not work but can fertilize the queen bee.

   • All with united force combine to drive / The lazy drones from the laborious hive.

2. (now rare) Someone who does not work; a lazy person, an idler.
   • 1596-97, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act II, Scene v^[2]:

     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. […]

   • 1624, John Smith, Generall Historie, in Kupperman 1988, p. 117:

     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.

   • by living as a drone, to be an unprofitable or unworthy member of so learned and noble a society

3. One who performs menial or tedious work.

   Synonym: drudge

4. (aviation) A remotely controlled aircraft, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).

   Synonyms: UAV, UAS

   Hyponym: quadcopter

Usage notes

• In sense “unmanned aircraft”, primarily used informally of military aircraft or consumer radio controlled quadcopters, without precise definition.

Translations

Descendants

• ? Spanish: dron
• ? Polish: dron
• ? Asturian: dron

Verb

drone (third-person singular simple present drones, present participle droning, simple past and past participle droned)

1. (transitive, colloquial) To kill with a missile fired by unmanned aircraft.

Etymology 2

From Middle English drounen (“to roar, bellow”), from Proto-West Germanic *drunnjan, from Proto-Germanic *drunjan? (“to drone, roar, make a sound”), from Proto-Indo-European *d?er- (“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”).

Verb

drone (third-person singular simple present drones, present participle droning, simple past and past participle droned)

1. To produce a low-pitched hum or buzz.
2. To speak in a monotone way.

Translations

Noun

drone (plural drones)

1. A low-pitched hum or buzz.
   • 1908, Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows

     He chanted as he flew and the car responded with sonorous drone.

2. (music) One of the fixed-pitch pipes on a bagpipe.
3. (music, uncountable) A genre of music that uses repeated lengthy droning sounds.
4. A humming or deep murmuring sound.

   • The monotonous drone of the wheel.

Translations

Further reading

• drone (bee) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• drone (aircraft) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

References

Anagrams

• Doner, Roden, doner, nerdo, orned, redon, renod, ronde

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English drone (“aircraft drone”). Doublette with dar (“male bee”), which descended from Middle Dutch, cf. Limburgish dreen.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dro?n/
• Hyphenation: drone
• Rhymes: -o?n

Noun

drone m (plural drones, diminutive droontje n)

1. a remotely controlled aircraft; a drone

Derived terms

• droneaanval

Finnish

Etymology

< English drone

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?drone/, [?dro?ne?]
• Rhymes: -one
• Syllabification: dro?ne

Noun

drone

1. (Anglicism) drone (type of unmanned aircraft)

Declension

Synonyms

• drooni
• lennokki

French

Etymology

From English drone

Noun

drone m (plural drones)

1. drone (unmanned aircraft)

Derived terms

Italian

Etymology

From English drone

Noun

drone m (invariable)

1. drone (unmanned aircraft)

Anagrams

• derno, dreno, drenò, rendo, ronde

Middle English

Noun

drone

1. Alternative form of drane

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Middle Low German drone (sense 1), and English drone (sense 2).

Noun

drone m (definite singular dronen, indefinite plural droner, definite plural dronene)

1. a drone (male bee)
2. a drone (radio-controlled pilotless aircraft)

Synonyms

• dronefly (aircraft)

References

• “drone” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Middle Low German drone (sense 1), and English drone (sense 2).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?dru?n?/ (example of pronunciation)

Noun

drone m (definite singular dronen, indefinite plural dronar, definite plural dronane)

1. drone (male bee)
2. drone (unmanned aircraft)

Synonyms

• (male bee): hannbie
• (aircraft): dronefly

References

• “drone” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from English drone.

Pronunciation

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /?d??.n?/, [?d??.n?]
• Hyphenation: dro?ne

Noun

drone m (plural drones)

1. drone (unmanned aircraft)

References

Spanish

Alternative forms

• dron

Etymology

From English drone.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?d?on/, [?d??õn]

Noun

drone m (plural drones)

1. drone