ancillary
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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[edit] English
[edit] Etymology
From Latin ancillāris, from ancilla (“maid”), diminutive of ancula, feminine of anculus (“a male servant”), from *ancus (“a servant”), from ambi- (“about”) + Proto-Indo-European *kwol-o-, from base Proto-Indo-European *kwel- (“move round, turn about, be much about”).[1]
See ambi- for cognate terms of prefix, such as ambulate; cycle is cognate from the Proto-Indo-European root.
[edit] Pronunciation
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[edit] Adjective
ancillary (comparative more ancillary, superlative most ancillary)
- Subordinate; secondary; auxiliary; accessory.
- 1836, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nature, Chapter 3:
- […] how easily he took all things along with him,—the persons, the opinions, and the day, and nature became ancillary to a man.
- 1898, John Wesley Powell, Truth and Error, Chapter 7
- [E]very organ of the body, whatever function it may perform, must also perform the other four functions in an ancillary manner.
- 1836, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nature, Chapter 3:
[edit] Translations
subordinate, secondary, auxiliary, accessory
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[edit] Noun
ancillary (plural ancillaries)
- Something that serves an ancillary function, such as an easel for a painter.
- (archaic) An auxiliary; a subordinate.
[edit] Translations
thing
person
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[edit] References
- ancillary in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
- ancillary in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
- ancillary at OneLook Dictionary Search
