a. [ad. L. ancillāri-us (more correctly ancillār-is) of or pertaining to a handmaid, f. ancilla: see prec.]
1. Subservient, subordinate, ministering (to).
1667. Waterhouse, Fire of Lond., 60. God makes every thing ancillary hereunto.
1768. Blackstone, Comm., III. vii. (R.). It is beneath the dignity of the king’s courts to be merely ancillary to other inferior jurisdictions.
1836. H. Taylor, Statesm., viii. 49. It will be rather ancillary than essential.
1848. Arnould, Mar. Insur., II. II. v. 652. Warlike stores … directly ancillary to warlike purposes.
1869. Rawlinson, Anc. Hist., 8. Geography, the other ancillary science to History.
2. lit. (after L.) Of or pertaining to maid-servants. rare and affected.
1852. Thackeray, Esmond, III. ix. (1876), 404. The ancillary beauty was the one whom the Prince had selected.
1854. Badham, Halieut., 399. Ancillary reformation has not yet begun to be thought of; cats are not more detrimental to mice … than these smashing wenches to … Sèvres teacups.
