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.