From WordNet (r) 2.0 (August 2003) [wn]:
auxiliary
adj 1: functioning in a subsidiary or supporting capacity; "the
main library and its auxiliary branches" [syn:
subsidiary, supplemental, supplementary]
2: relating to something that is added but is not essential;
"an ancillary pump"; "an adjuvant discipline to forms of
mysticism"; "The mind and emotions are auxilliary to each
other" [syn: accessory, adjunct, ancillary,
adjuvant, appurtenant, subsidiary]
n : someone who acts as assistant [syn: aide]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Auxiliary \Aux*il"ia*ry\ (?; 106), a. [L. auxiliarius, fr.
auxilium help, aid, fr. augere to increase.]
Conferring aid or help; helping; aiding; assisting;
subsidiary; as auxiliary troops.
[1913 Webster]
Auxiliary scales (Mus.), the scales of relative or
attendant keys. See under Attendant, a.
Auxiliary verbs (Gram.). See Auxiliary, n., 3.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Auxiliary \Aux*il"ia*ry\, n.; pl. Auxiliaries.
1. A helper; an assistant; a confederate in some action or
enterprise.
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2. (Mil.) pl. Foreign troops in the service of a nation at
war; (rarely in sing.), a member of the allied or
subsidiary force.
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3. (Gram.) 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; [^e]tre and avoir, in French; avere and
essere, in Italian; estar and haber, in Spanish.
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4. (Math.) A quantity introduced for the purpose of
simplifying or facilitating some operation, as in
equations or trigonometrical formul[ae]. --Math. Dict.
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