a. and sb. [a. Fr. adjuvant (16th c. in Litt.), ad. L. adjuvant-em, pr. pple. of adjuvā-re to assist; f. ad to + juvā-re to help.]
A. adj. Assisting, aiding, helpful, auxiliary.
a. 1614. P. Lilie, 2 Serm. (1619), 3. I doe not say they are principall causes, but instrumentall, adjuvant, secundary, inferiour causes.
1650. Greenhill, On Ezek. (1874), Ded. 4. It is my unhappiness that I cannot be sufficiently adjuvant to such Princely beginnings.
1836. Todd, Cycl. Anat. & Phys., I. 645/2. Used as adjuvant respiratory organs.
1874. Webster, Rep. Patent Congress at Vienna, IV. 355. An examination system which should be adjuvant and advisory to the applicant.
B. sb. [The adj. used absol.] A person or thing helping or aiding; a help, helper or assistant. spec. in Med. A substance added to a prescription to assist the action of the principal ingredient or ‘base.’
1609. Yelverton, in Archæol., XV. 51 (T.). I have only been a careful Adjuvant, and was sorry I could not be the efficient.
1654. T. Whitaker, Bl. of Grape, 2 (T.). These [plants] are adjuvants by reason of their cathartique quality.
1865. Huxley, Ethnology, in Crit. & Addr., 1873, vii. 138. The value of philology as an adjuvant to ethnology.
1875. Wood, Therap. (1879), 83. Serpentaria, An elegant stimulant tonic, especially useful as an adjuvant to more powerful bitters.
