Dictionary entry

Auxiliary (2)

Webster's Dictionary 1913

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.