croak vs drone

croak

noun
  • A faint, harsh sound made in the throat. 

  • The call of a frog or toad. (see also ribbit) 

  • The harsh call of various birds, such as the raven or corncrake, or other creatures. 

verb
  • To kill someone or something. 

  • To complain; especially, to grumble; to forebode evil; to utter complaints or forebodings habitually. 

  • To die. 

  • To utter in a low, hoarse voice. 

  • To make a croak. 

  • To make its sound. 

drone

noun
  • A humming or deep murmuring sound. 

  • One of the fixed-pitch pipes on a bagpipe. 

  • One who performs menial or tedious work. 

  • A person without the ability to think critically and independently, especially one who follows a group blindly; a non-player character. 

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

  • A Toyota HiAce or a similar van, especially one used by Ugandan state agents to kidnap opposition members. 

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

  • A genre of music that uses repeated lengthy droning sounds. 

  • A low-pitched hum or buzz. 

verb
  • To speak in a monotone way. 

  • To produce a low-pitched hum or buzz. 

  • To kill with a missile fired by unmanned aircraft. 

How often have the words croak and drone occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )