Subject | Webster's Dictionary (1865)

Sŭb'ject, a.

adjective

a. [Lat. subjectus, lying under, subjected, p. p. of subjicere, to throw, lay, place, or bring under, from prefix sub, under, and jacere, to throw; Pr. subject, soget, Fr. sujet, Sp. sujeto, Pg. sujeito, sogetto, It. soggetto, subietto.]

Sense 1. Placed or situate under.

The eastern tower, Whose height commands, as subject, all the vale, To see the fight. Shak.

Sense 2. Placed under the power and dominion of another; as, Jamaica is subject to Great Britain.

Esau was never subject to Jacob. Locke.

Sense 3. Exposed; liable; prone; disposed; as, a country subject to extreme heat or cold.

All human things are subject to decay. Dryden.

Synonyms— Liable; subordinate; inferior; obnoxious; exposed. See LIABLE.

Sŭb'ject, n.

noun

n. [Lat. subjectus, It. subietto, suggetto, soggetto, Sp. sujeto, Pg. sugeito, Pr. subjet, suget, soget, sosget, Fr. sujet. See supra.]

Sense 1. That which is placed under the authority, dominion, or influence of something else.

Sense 2. Especially, one who is brought under the authority of a ruler; one who owes allegiance to a sovereign, and is governed by his laws.

The subject must obey his prince, because God commands it, and human laws require it. Swift.

Sense 3. That which is brought under, or submitted to, any physical operation or process.

Sense 4. That which is brought under thought or examination; that which is taken up for discussion. “This subject for heroic song.” Milton.

Make choice of a subject, beautiful and noble, which ... shall afford an ample field of matter whereon to expatiate. Dryden.

Sense 5. The person who is treated of; the hero of a piece.

Authors of biography are apt to be prejudiced in favor of their subject. Middleton.

Sense 6. (Logic & Gram.) That of which any thing is affirmed or predicated; the theme of a proposition or discourse; that which is spoken of; as, the nominative case is the subject of the verb.

The subject of a proposition is that concerning which any thing is affirmed or denied. Watts.

Sense 7. That in which any quality, attribute, or relation, whether spiritual or material, inheres, or to which any of these appertain; substance; substratum.

That which manifests its qualities—in other words, that in which the appearing causes inhere, that to which they belong—is called their subject or substance, or substratum. Sir W. Hamilton.

Sense 8. Hence, that substance or being which is conscious of its own operations; the mind; the thinking agent or principal.

“The philosophers of mind have, in a manner, usurped and appropriated this expression to themselves. Accordingly, in their hands, the phrases conscious or thinking subject, and subject, mean precisely the same thing.” Sir W. Hamilton.

Sense 9. (Mus.) The principal melody or theme of a movement.

Sense 10. (Fine Arts.) That which it is the object and aim of the artist to express. Brande.

Sense 11. (Anat.) A dead body for the purposes of dissection.

Sub-jĕct', v. t.

verbtransitive

v. t. [imp. & p. p. SUBJECTED; p. pr. & vb. n. SUBJECTING.] [Lat. subjicere, subjectum, It. subiettare, suggeritare, Sp. sujetar, Pg. sujeitar, sogeitar. See SUBJECT, a.]

Sense 1. To bring under the control, power, dominion, or action of; to subdue; to enslave.

Firmness of mind that subjects every gratification of sense to the rule of right reason. Middleton.

In one short view subjected to our eye, Gods, emperors, heroes, sages, beauties lie. Pope.

He is the most subjected, the most enslaved, who is so in his understanding. Locke.

Sense 2. To expose; to make liable; as, credulity subjects a person to impositions.

Sense 3. To submit; to make accountable.

God is not bound to subject his ways of operation to the scrutiny of our thoughts. Locke.

Sense 4. To make subservient.

Subjected to his service angel wings. Milton.

Sense 5. To cause to undergo; as, to subject a substance to a white heat; to subject it to a rigid test.