Also 8 -cule [ad. L. adminicul-um a prop. Cf. Fr. adminicule, in Cotgr.
1. Anything that aids or supports; an auxiliary.
a. 1556. Cranmer, Wks., I. 37 (D.). The author would have the sacraments … to be adminicles as it were.
1597. J. King, Jonah, xxxv. (1864), 223. They adjoin fasting and sackcloth … as adminicles … to that effectual prayer of theirs.
1788. Reid, Aristotle’s Log., iv. § 2. 74. The invention contained in these verses is … so great an adminicle to the dexterous management of syllogisms.
1847. Grote, Greece, III. II. x. 99. The senate of five hundred … was a permanent adjunct and adminicle of the public assembly.
1872. Daily News, 2 Oct., 5. Floriculture and other adminicles of civilisation.
2. Law. Supporting or corroboratory evidence; that which, without forming complete proof in itself, contributes to prove a point. In Sc. Law, Any document or writing tending to prove the existence and tenor of a lost deed, which if it existed would have been full evidence.
1706. Phillips, Adminicle … In Civil-Law, it signifies imperfect Proof.
1829. Scott, Hrt. Midl., xxiii. 178. Only as adminicles of testimony, tending to corroborate what is considered as legal and proper evidence.
3. Archæol. In pl. Ornaments that surround the figure on a medal or coin.
1751. Chambers, Cycl., s.v., Among antiquaries, the term Adminicules is applied to the attributes or ornaments, wherewith Juno and some other figures are represented on medals.
