Etymology From Latin ancillāris (“ancillary; relating to female slaves”), from ancilla (“slave-woman”).
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Subordinate; secondary; auxiliary.
[…] how easily he took all things along with him,—the persons, the opinions, and the day, and nature became ancillary to a man.1836, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nature, Chapter 3:
[E]very organ of the body, whatever function it may perform, must also perform the other four functions in an ancillary manner.1898, John Wesley Powell, “Chapter 7”, in Truth and Error:
1 more example
The cafeteria is primarily used by students and staff (academic, administrative, and ancillary).2019, Li Huang, James Lambert, “Another Arrow for the Quiver: A New Methodology for Multilingual Researchers”, in Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, →DOI, page 4:
Etymology From Latin ancillāris (“ancillary; relating to female slaves”), from ancilla (“slave-woman”).
1
Something that serves an ancillary function, such as an easel for a painter.
Auxiliaries and ancillaries are comprehensive, and include a Westinghouse motor-driven recriprocating compressor used for locomotive braking and general service air, two rotary exhauster sets for train brakes when hauling passenger or fitted freight trains, and an oil-fired train heating boiler.1950 November, “Mixed-Traffic Diesel-Electric Locomotives for Ireland”, in Railway Magazine, page 781: