Category:Auxiliary

Aux*il"ia*ry, a. Etym: [L. auxiliarius, fr. auxilium help, aid, fr. augere to increase.]

Defn: Conferring aid or help; helping; aiding; assisting; subsidiary; as auxiliary troops. Auxiliary scales (Mus.), the scales of relative or attendant keys. See under Attendant, a.

-- Auxiliary verbs (Gram.). See Auxiliary, n., 3.

Aux*il"ia*ry, n.; pl. Auxiliaries (.

1. A helper; an assistant; a confederate in some action or enterprise.

2. (Mil.) pl.

Defn: Foreign troops in the service of a nation at war; (rarely in sing.), a member of the allied or subsidiary force.

3. (Gram.)

Defn: A verb which helps to form the voices, modes, and tenses of other verbs; -- called, also, an auxiliary verb; as, have, be, may, can, do, must, shall, and will, in English; être and avoir, in French; avere and essere, in Italian; estar and haber, in Spanish.

4. (Math.)

Defn: A quantity introduced for the purpose of simplifying or facilitating some operation, as in equations or trigonometrical formulæ. Math. Dict.