a person who contributes to the fulfillment of a need or furtherance of an effort or purpose; "my invaluable assistant"; "they hired additional help to finish the work"
someone who assists a priest or minister in a liturgical service; a cleric ordained in the highest of the minor orders in the Roman Catholic Church but not in the Anglican Church or the Eastern Orthodox Churches
an adviser to the court on some matter of law who is not a party to the case; usually someone who wants to influence the outcome of a lawsuit involving matters of wide public interest
a member of the Union Army during the American Civil War
national; especially in reference to the government of the United States as distinct from that of its member units; "the Federal Bureau of Investigation"; "federal courts"; "the federal highway program"; "federal property"
characterized by or constituting a form of government in which power is divided between one central and several regional authorities; "a federal system like that of the United States"; "federal governments often evolved out of confederations"
of or relating to the central government of a federation; "a federal district is one set aside as the seat of the national government"
(computer science) a copy of a file or directory on a separate storage device; "he made a backup in case the original was accidentally damaged or erased"
an accumulation caused by clogging or a stoppage; "a traffic backup on the main street"; "he discovered a backup in the toilet"