Aux*il"ia*ry , n.;
pl. Auxiliaries (&?;). 1. A helper; an assistant; a confederate in some action or enterprise.
2. (Mil.) pl. Foreign troops in the service of a nation at war; (rarely in sing.), a member of the
allied or subsidiary force.
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; être and avoir, in French; avere and
essere, in Italian;
estar and haber, in
Spanish.
4. (Math.) A quantity introduced for the purpose of simplifying or facilitating some operation, as in equations or
trigonometrical formulæ. Math. Dict.
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.
Auxiliary scales
(Mus.), the scales of relative or attendant keys. See under Attendant, a. -- Auxiliary verbs (Gram.). See Auxiliary, n., 3.
Hear it pronounced