auxiliary verb

3 definitions found

auxiliary verb - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  Verb \Verb\, n. [F. verbe, L. verbum a word, verb. See Word.]
     1. A word; a vocable. [Obs.] --South.
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     2. (Gram.) A word which affirms or predicates something of
        some person or thing; a part of speech expressing being,
        action, or the suffering of action.
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     Note: A verb is a word whereby the chief action of the mind
           [the assertion or the denial of a proposition] finds
           expression. --Earle.
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     Active verb, Auxiliary verb, Neuter verb, etc. See
        Active, Auxiliary, Neuter, etc.
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  Auxiliary \Aux*il"ia*ry\, n.; pl. Auxiliaries.
     1. A helper; an assistant; a confederate in some action or
        enterprise.
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     2. (Mil.) pl. Foreign troops in the service of a nation at
        war; (rarely in sing.), a member of the allied or
        subsidiary force.
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     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; [^e]tre and avoir, in French; avere and
        essere, in Italian; estar and haber, in Spanish.
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     4. (Math.) A quantity introduced for the purpose of
        simplifying or facilitating some operation, as in
        equations or trigonometrical formul[ae]. --Math. Dict.
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auxiliary verb - WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005) :

  auxiliary verb
      n 1: a verb that combines with another verb in a verb phrase to
           help form tense, mood, voice, or condition of the verb it
           combines with