Droll Droll adjective [ Compar. Droller ; superl. Drollest .] [ French drôle ; confer G. & Dutch drollig , LG. drullig , Dutch drol a thick and short person, a droll, Swedish troll a magical appearance, demon, trolla to use magic arts, enchant, Danish trold elf, imp, Icelandic tröll giant, magician, evil spirit, monster. If this is the origin, confer Trull .] Queer, and fitted to provoke laughter; ludicrous from oddity; amusing and strange. Syn. -- Comic; comical; farcical; diverting; humorous; ridiculous; queer; odd; waggish; facetious; merry; laughable; ludicrous. -- Droll , Laughable , Comical . Laughable is the generic term, denoting anything exciting laughter or worthy of laughter; comical denotes something of the kind exhibited in comedies , something humorous of the kind exhibited in comedies , something, as it were, dramatically humorous ; droll stands lower on the scale, having reference to persons or things which excite laughter by their buffoonery or oddity. A laughable incident; a comical adventure; a droll story.

Droll Droll noun 1. One whose practice it is to raise mirth by odd tricks; a jester; a buffoon; a merry-andrew. Prior. 2. Something exhibited to raise mirth or sport, as a puppet, a farce, and the like.

Droll Droll intransitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Drolled ; present participle & verbal noun Drolling .] To jest; to play the buffoon. [ R.]

Droll Droll transitive verb 1. To lead or influence by jest or trick; to banter or jest; to cajole.

Men that will not be reasoned into their senses, may yet be laughed or drolled into them.

L'Estrange. 2. To make a jest of; to set in a comical light. [ R.]

This drolling everything is rather fatiguing.

W. D. Howells.

Droller Droll"er noun A jester; a droll. [ Obsolete] Glanvill.

Drollery Droll"er·y noun ; plural Drolleries . [ French drôlerie . See Droll .] 1. The quality of being droll; sportive tricks; buffoonery; droll stories; comical gestures or manners.

The rich drollery of "She Stoops to Conquer."

Macaulay. 2. Something which serves to raise mirth ; as: (a) A puppet show; also, a puppet. [ Obsolete] Shak. (b) A lively or comic picture. [ Obsolete]

I bought an excellent drollery , which I afterward parted with to my brother George of Wotton.

Evelyn.

Drollingly Droll"ing·ly adverb In a jesting manner.

Drollish Droll"ish adjective Somewhat droll. Sterne.

Drollist Droll"ist noun A droll. [ R.] Glanvill.

Dromatherium Drom`a·the"ri·um noun [ New Latin , from Greek droma`s running + qhri`on beast. See Dromedary .] (Paleon.) A small extinct triassic mammal from North Carolina, the earliest yet found in America.

Drome Drome (drōm) noun [ French, from Greek droma`s running. See Dromedary .] (Zoology) The crab plover ( Dromas ardeola ), a peculiar North African bird, allied to the oyster catcher.

Drome Drome (drōm) noun Short for Aërodrome . [ Slang]

Dromedary Drom"e·da·ry (drŭm"e*da*rȳ) noun ; plural Dromedaries . [ French dromadaire , Late Latin dromedarius , from Latin dromas (sc. camelus ), from Greek droma`s running, from dramei`n , used as aor. of tre`chein to run; confer Sanskrit dram to run.] (Zoology) The Arabian camel ( Camelus dromedarius ), having one hump or protuberance on the back, in distinction from the Bactrian camel , which has two humps. » In Arabia and Egypt the name is restricted to the better breeds of this species of camel. See Deloul .

Dromond, Dromon Drom"ond, Drom"on [ Old French dromont , Latin dromo , from Greek dro`mwn light vessel, probably from dramei^n to run. See Dromedary .] In the Middle Ages, a large, fast-sailing galley, or cutter; a large, swift war vessel. [ Hist. or Archaic] Fuller.

The great dromond swinging from the quay.

W. Morris.

Dromæognathous Dro`mæ·og"na·thous adjective [ New Latin dromaius emu + Greek ... jaw.] (Zoology) Having the structure of the palate like that of the ostrich and emu.

Drone Drone noun [ Middle English drane a dronebee, Anglo-Saxon drān ; akin to Old Saxon drān , Old High German treno , German drohne , Dan. drone , confer Greek ... a kind of wasp, dial. Greek ... drone. Prob. named from the droning sound. See Drone , intransitive verb ] 1. (Zoology) The male of bees, esp. of the honeybee. It gathers no honey. See Honeybee .

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

Dryden. 2. One who lives on the labors of others; a lazy, idle fellow; a sluggard.

By living as a drone ,to be an unprofitable and unworthy member of so noble and learned a society.

Burton. 3. That which gives out a grave or monotonous tone or dull sound; as: (a) A drum. [ Obsolete] Halliwell . (b) The part of the bagpipe containing the two lowest tubes, which always sound the key note and the fifth. 4. A humming or deep murmuring sound.

The monotonous drone of the wheel.

Longfellow. 5. (Mus.) A monotonous bass, as in a pastoral composition.

Drone Drone intransitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Droned ; present participle & verbal noun Droning .] [ Confer (for sense 1) Dutch dreunen , German dröhnen , Icelandic drynja to roar, drynr a roaring, Swedish dröna to bellow, drone, Danish dröne , Goth. drunjus sound, Greek ... dirge, ... to cry aloud, Sanskrit dhran to sound. Confer Drone , noun ] 1. To utter or make a low, dull, monotonous, humming or murmuring sound.

Where the beetle wheels his droning flight.

T. Gray. 2. To love in idleness; to do nothing. "Race of droning kings." Dryden.

Drone bee Drone" bee` (Zoology) The male of the honeybee; a drone.

Drone fly Drone" fly` (Zoology) A dipterous insect ( Eristalis tenax ), resembling the drone bee. See Eristalis .

Dronepipe Drone"pipe` noun One of the low- toned tubes of a bagpipe.

Drongo Dron"go noun ; plural Drongos (Zoology) A passerine bird of the family Dicruridæ . They are usually black with a deeply forked tail. They are natives of Asia, Africa, and Australia; -- called also drongo shrikes .

Dronish Dron"ish adjective Like a drone; indolent; slow. Burke. -- Dron"ish*ly , adverb -- Dron"ish*ness , noun

Dronkelewe Dron"ke·lewe adjective [ See Drink .] Given to drink; drunken. [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

Dronte Dron"te noun [ French] (Zoology) The dodo.

Drony Dron"y adjective Like a drone; sluggish; lazy.

Drool Drool intransitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Drooled ; present participle & verbal noun Drooling .] [ Contr. from drivel .] To drivel, or drop saliva; as, the child drools .

His mouth drooling with texts.

T. Parker.

Droop Droop intransitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Drooped ; present participle & verbal noun Drooping .] [ Icelandic dr...pa ; akin to English drop . See Drop .] 1. To hang bending downward; to sink or hang down, as an animal, plant, etc., from physical inability or exhaustion, want of nourishment, or the like. "The purple flowers droop ." "Above her drooped a lamp." Tennyson.

I saw him ten days before he died, and observed he began very much to droop and languish.

Swift. 2. To grow weak or faint with disappointment, grief, or like causes; to be dispirited or depressed; to languish; as, her spirits drooped .

I'll animate the soldier's drooping courage.

Addison. 3. To proceed downward, or toward a close; to decline. "Then day drooped ." Tennyson.

Droop Droop transitive verb To let droop or sink. [ R.] M. Arnold.

Like to a withered vine
That droops his sapless branches to the ground.

Shak.

Droop Droop noun A drooping; as, a droop of the eye.

Drooper Droop"er noun One who, or that which, droops.

Droopingly Droop"ing·ly adverb In a drooping manner.

Drop Drop noun [ Middle English drope , Anglo-Saxon dropa ; akin to Old Saxon dropo , Dutch drop , Old High German tropo , German tropfen , Icelandic dropi , Swedish droppe ; and Fr. Anglo-Saxon dreópan to drip, drop; akin to Old Saxon driopan , Dutch druipen , Old High German triofan , German triefen , Icelandic drj...pa . Confer Drip , Droop .] 1. The quantity of fluid which falls in one small spherical mass; a liquid globule; a minim; hence, also, the smallest easily measured portion of a fluid; a small quantity; as, a drop of water.

With minute drops from off the eaves.

Milton.

As dear to me as are the ruddy drops
That visit my sad heart.

Shak.

That drop of peace divine.

Keble. 2. That which resembles, or that which hangs like, a liquid drop; as a hanging diamond ornament, an earring, a glass pendant on a chandelier, a sugarplum (sometimes medicated), or a kind of shot or slug. 3. (Architecture) (a) Same as Gutta . (b) Any small pendent ornament. 4. Whatever is arranged to drop, hang, or fall from an elevated position; also, a contrivance for lowering something ; as: (a) A door or platform opening downward; a trap door; that part of the gallows on which a culprit stands when he is to be hanged; hence, the gallows itself. (b) A machine for lowering heavy weights, as packages, coal wagons, etc., to a ship's deck. (c) A contrivance for temporarily lowering a gas jet. (d) A curtain which drops or falls in front of the stage of a theater, etc. (e) A drop press or drop hammer. (f) (Machinery) The distance of the axis of a shaft below the base of a hanger. 5. plural Any medicine the dose of which is measured by drops; as, lavender drops . 6. (Nautical) The depth of a square sail; -- generally applied to the courses only. Ham. Nav. Encyc. 7. Act of dropping; sudden fall or descent. Ague drop , Black drop . See under Ague , Black . -- Drop by drop , in small successive quantities; in repeated portions. "Made to taste drop by drop more than the bitterness of death." Burke. -- Drop curtain . See Drop , noun , 4. (d) . -- Drop forging . (Mech.) (a) A forging made in dies by a drop hammer. (b) The process of making drop forgings. -- Drop hammer (Mech.) , a hammer for forging, striking up metal, etc., the weight being raised by a strap or similar device, and then released to drop on the metal resting on an anvil or die. -- Drop kick (Football) , a kick given to the ball as it rebounds after having been dropped from the hands. -- Drop lake , a pigment obtained from Brazil wood. Mollett. -- Drop letter , a letter to be delivered from the same office where posted. -- Drop press (Mech.) , a drop hammer; sometimes, a dead- stroke hammer; -- also called drop . -- Drop scene , a drop curtain on which a scene is painted. See Drop , noun , 4. (d) . -- Drop seed . (Botany) See the List under Glass . -- Drop serene . (Medicine) See Amaurosis .

Drop Drop transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Dropped or Dropt ; present participle & verbal noun Dropping .] [ Middle English droppen , Anglo-Saxon dropan , intransitive verb See Drop , noun ] 1. To pour or let fall in drops; to pour in small globules; to distill. "The trees drop balsam." Creech.

The recording angel, as he wrote it down, dropped a tear upon the word and blotted it out forever.

Sterne. 2. To cause to fall in one portion, or by one motion, like a drop; to let fall; as, to drop a line in fishing; to drop a courtesy. 3. To let go; to dismiss; to set aside; to have done with; to discontinue; to forsake; to give up; to omit.

They suddenly drop't the pursuit.

S. Sharp.

That astonishing ease with which fine ladies drop you and pick you up again.

Thackeray.

The connection had been dropped many years.

Sir W. Scott.

Dropping the too rough H in Hell and Heaven.

Tennyson. 4. To bestow or communicate by a suggestion; to let fall in an indirect, cautious, or gentle manner; as, to drop hint, a word of counsel, etc. 5. To lower, as a curtain, or the muzzle of a gun, etc. 6. To send, as a letter; as, please drop me a line, a letter, word. 7. To give birth to; as, to drop a lamb. 8. To cover with drops; to variegate; to bedrop.

Show to the sun their waved coats dropped with gold.

Milton. To drop a vessel (Nautical) , to leave it astern in a race or a chase; to outsail it.

Drop Drop intransitive verb 1. To fall in drops.

The kindly dew drops from the higher tree,
And wets the little plants that lowly dwell.

Spenser. 2. To fall, in general, literally or figuratively; as, ripe fruit drops from a tree; wise words drop from the lips.

Mutilations of which the meaning has dropped out of memory.

H. Spencer.

When the sound of dropping nuts is heard.

Bryant. 3. To let drops fall; to discharge itself in drops.

The heavens . . . dropped at the presence of God.

Ps. lxviii. 8. 4. To fall dead, or to fall in death.

Nothing, says Seneca, so soon reconciles us to the thoughts of our own death, as the prospect of one friend after another dropping round us.

Digby. 5. To come to an end; to cease; to pass out of mind; as, the affair dropped . Pope. 6. To come unexpectedly; -- with in or into ; as, my old friend dropped in a moment. Steele.

Takes care to drop in when he thinks you are just seated.

Spectator. 7. To fall or be depressed; to lower; as, the point of the spear dropped a little. 8. To fall short of a mark. [ R.]

Often it drops or overshoots by the disproportion of distance.

Collier. 9. To be deep in extent; to descend perpendicularly; as, her main topsail drops seventeen yards. To drop astern (Nautical) , to go astern of another vessel; to be left behind; to slacken the speed of a vessel so as to fall behind and to let another pass a head. -- To drop down (Nautical) , to sail, row, or move down a river, or toward the sea. -- To drop off , to fall asleep gently; also, to die. [ Colloq.]

Droplet Drop"let noun A little drop; a tear. Shak.

Droplight Drop"light` noun An apparatus for bringing artificial light down from a chandelier nearer to a table or desk; a pendant.

Dropmeal, Dropmele Drop"meal`, Drop"mele` adverb [ Anglo-Saxon drop-mǣlum ; dropa drop + mǣl portion. Confer Piecemeal .] By drops or small portions. [ Obsolete]

Distilling dropmeal , a little at once.

Holland.

Dropper Drop"per noun 1. One who, or that which, drops. Specif.: (Fishing) A fly that drops from the leader above the bob or end fly. 2. A dropping tube. 3. (Mining) A branch vein which drops off from, or leaves, the main lode. 4. (Zoology) A dog which suddenly drops upon the ground when it sights game, -- formerly a common, and still an occasional, habit of the setter.

Dropping Drop"ping noun 1. The action of causing to drop or of letting drop; falling. 2. plural That which falls in drops; the excrement or dung of animals. Dropping bottle , an instrument used to supply small quantities of a fluid to a test tube or other vessel. -- Dropping fire , a continued irregular discharge of firearms. -- Dropping tube , a tube for ejecting any liquid in drops.

Droppingly Drop"ping·ly adverb In drops.

Dropsical Drop"si·cal adjective [ From Dropsy .] 1. Diseased with dropsy; hydropical; tending to dropsy; as, a dropsical patient. 2. Of or pertaining to dropsy.

Dropsicalness Drop"si·cal·ness noun State of being dropsical.

Dropsied Drop"sied adjective Diseased with drops. Shak.

Dropsy Drop"sy noun ; plural Dropsies . [ Middle English dropsie , dropesie , Old French idropisie , French hydropisie , Latin hydropisis , from Greek ... dropsy, from ... water. See Water , and confer Hydropsy .] (Medicine) An unnatural collection of serous fluid in any serous cavity of the body, or in the subcutaneous cellular tissue. Dunglison.

Dropt Dropt imperfect & past participle of Drop , v. G. Eliot.

Dropwise Drop"wise` adverb After the manner of a drop; in the form of drops.

Trickling dropwise from the cleft.

Tennyson.

Dropworm Drop"worm` (drŏp"wûrm`) noun (Zoology) The larva of any geometrid moth, which drops from trees by means of a thread of silk, as the cankerworm.

Dropwort Drop"wort` (-wûrt`) noun (Botany) An Old World species of Spiræa ( S. filipendula ), with finely cut leaves.

Drosera Dros"e·ra (drŏs"e*rȧ) noun [ New Latin , from Greek drosero`s dewy.] (Botany) A genus of low perennial or biennial plants, the leaves of which are beset with gland-tipped bristles. See Sundew . Gray.

Drosky Dros"ky (drŏs"kȳ) noun ; plural Droskies (-kĭz). [ Russian drojki , dim. of drogi a kind of carriage, prop. plural of droga shaft or pole of a carriage.] A low, four-wheeled, open carriage, used in Russia, consisting of a kind of long, narrow bench, on which the passengers ride as on a saddle, with their feet reaching nearly to the ground. Other kinds of vehicles are now so called, esp. a kind of victoria drawn by one or two horses, and used as a public carriage in German cities. [ Written also droitzschka , and droschke .]