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An auxiliary part of a machine which supplies or leads along the material operated upon.

A horizontal vein or ore deposit auxiliary to a main vein; also, any horizontal portion of a vein not elsewhere horizontal. Raymond.

p. p. of Fly; -- often used with the auxiliary verb to be; as, the birds are flown.

A mechanical contrivance, an auxiliary machine, or a subordinate part of a machine, rendering convenient service, and often supplying the place of a boy or attendant who was commonly called Jack; as:

y of the other parts of a machine, as, in some marine engines, a shaft, driven by a small auxiliary engine, for independently operating the valves of the main engine to insure uniform motion.

A preliminary or auxiliary proposition demonstrated or accepted for immediate use in the demonstration of some other proposition, as in mathematics or logic.

One of a class of auxiliary numbers, devised by John Napier, of Merchiston, Scotland (1550-1617), to abridge arithmetical calculations, by the use of addition and subtraction in place of multiplication and division.

An auxiliary verb qualifyng the meaning of another verb, by expressing: (a) Ability, competency, or possibility; -- now oftener expressed by can. How may a man, said he, with idle speech, Be won to spoil the castle of his health ! Spenser. For what he [the king] may do is of two kinds; what he may do as just, and what…

Any additional or auxiliary mass of masonry used to stiffen a wall. See Buttress.

A melodic embellishment consisting of the quick alternation of a principal tone with an auxiliary tone above it, usually the next of the scale; --called also the inverted mordente.

An auxiliary rope to strengthen a mast. Preventer bolts, or Preventer plates (Naut.), fixtures connected with preventers to reënforce other rigging. -- Preventer stay. (Naut.) Same as Preventer, 3.

cipal of a faction, a school, a firm, etc.; -- distinguished from a subordinate, abettor, auxiliary, or assistant.

uction of other goods, such as tools and raw material; -- called also instrumental goods, auxiliary goods, intermediate goods, or goods of the second and higher orders, and disting. from consumers' goods.

In a variable expansion central-valve engine, a small auxiliary engine for automatically adjusting the steam distribution to the load on the main engine. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

An auxiliary watch chain, secured to the clothes, usually out of sight, to prevent stealing of the watch.

One who occupies a subordinate, inferior, or auxiliary place; a delegate deputy; one who is second or next to the chief officer; as, the secondary, or undersheriff of the city of London. Old Escalus . . . is thy secondary. Shak.

An auxiliary motor, regulated by a hand lever, for quickly and easily moving the reversing gear of a large marine engine into any desired position indicated by that of the hand lever, which controls the valve of the motor.

As an auxiliary, shall indicates a duty or necessity whose obligation is derived from the person speaking; as, you shall go; he shall go; that is, I order or promise your going. It thus ordinarily expresses, in the second and third persons, a command, a threat, or a promise. If the auxillary be emphasized, the command…

Used as an auxiliary verb, to express a conditional or contingent act or state, or as a supposition of an actual fact; also, to express moral obligation (see Shall); e. g.: they should have come last week; if I should go; I should think you could go. "You have done that you should be sorry for." Shak.…

Furnishing aid; assisting; auxiliary; helping; tributary; especially, aiding in an inferior position or capacity; as, a subsidiary stream. Chief ruler and principal head everywhere, not suffragant and subsidiary. Florio. They constituted a useful subsidiary testimony of another state of existence. Coleridge.…