Forms: α. 4 sug(g)ette, sougit, sujet, 4–5 suget(t, sogett(e, 4–6 soget, 5 sugget, soiet. β. 4 soubgit, subiet, 4–5 subgit, 5 subgyt, -gett, subiette, subyett, 5–6 subgette, 4–6 subget. γ. 4–6 subiect, 5 subyect, -iecht, 5–6 iecte, 6 -gecte, -jecte, 6– subject. [a. OF. suget, subject (12th c.), sog(i)et, sougit, subg(i)et (13th c.), mod.F. sujet (from 16th c.), repr. L. subject-us, pa. pple. of subicĕre, subjicĕre, f. sub- SUB- 3 + jacĕre to throw, cast.
Examples like the following are freq. in ME., where the word should prob. be construed as infected adj., though formally indistinguishable from pl. sb.:—
c. 1350. Will. Palerne, 463. Min eiȝen sorly aren sogettes to serue min hert & buxum ben to his bidding.
1382. Wyclif, 1 Cor. xv. 27. Whanne he seith, alle thingis ben sugetis to him.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Pars. T., ¶ 634. Seint Paul seith O ye wommen, be ye subgetes to youre housbondes.
1456. Sir G. Haye, Law Arms (S.T.S.), 106. Thai realmes be nocht subjectes to the empire.]
I. 1. That is under the dominion or rule of a sovereign, or a conquering or ruling power; owing allegiance or obedience to a sovereign ruler or state, a temporal or spiritual lord, or other superior.
(a) in predicative position.
α. c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. Wace (Rolls), 14842. Þe Englys were nought of o wyl O kyng ouer þem to set, Ne for to be til on suget.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Wks. (1880), 44. And freris þat ben soget owen to þenke þat for god þei han forsaken here owen willes.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), II. 59. Al West Saxon was soget to hym. Ibid., 123. To þat see is sugett Barokschire, Wiltschire, and Dorsett.
c. 1450. Mirk’s Festial, 22. All þe world was suget to þe Emperour of Rome.
β. 1390. Gower, Conf., I. 26. Therwhiles that the Monarchie Of al the world in that partie To Babiloyne was soubgit.
c. 1425. Eng. Conq. Irel., 26. Þer was noght of þe lond-folke þat all nas subyett to hym.
1456. Sir G. Haye, Law Arms (S.T.S.), 218. Here speris the doctour, quhethir the king of Ingland be suget to the Emperour…, I ansuere … that thai ar nocht subget to the Empire.
1471. Caxton, Recuyell (Sommer), 509. Pannonye was subgette vnto kyng pryant.
c. 1511. 1st Engl. Bk. Amer. (Arb.), Introd. p. xxxiv/2. All these be subgette to the great kynge of Israhel.
γ. c. 1386. Chaucer, Clerk’s T., 426. To been subiect, & been in seruage To the þat born art of a smal village.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 5507. Dukes full doughty … Þat subiect were sothely to þe same Perses.
1515. Barclay, Egloges, iv. (1570), C iv. What time a knight is subiect to a knaue.
1600. J. Pory, trans. Leo’s Africa, VI. 265. All round about are subiect vnto the King of Tunis.
1662. J. Davies, trans. Olearius’ Voy. Ambass., 36. The Island was subject to the King of Denmark.
1842. W. C. Taylor, Anc. Hist., xviii. (ed. 3), 573. The empire of India became subject to that of Persia.
1863. Mary Howitt, trans. F. Bremer’s Greece, I. vi. 161. The freest of all the states of the earth became subject to a despot.
(b) in attributive position. (Sometimes hyphened as if subject were regarded as the sb. used attrib.)
Subject superior: see SUPERIOR sb.
1581. A. Hall, Iliad, I. 11. Many a subiect towne of his.
a. 1586. Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia (1912), 246. He was not borne to live a subject-life, each action of his bearing in it Majestie.
1594. Selimus, 890 (Malone Soc.). As if t’were lawfull for a subiect prince To rise in Armes gainst his soueraigne.
1595. Shaks., John, IV. ii. 171. O, let me haue no subiect enemies.
1690. Locke, Hum. Und., IV. iii. § 20. The Subject part of Mankind … might … with Egyptian Bondage expect Egyptian Darkness.
1781. Gibbon, Decl. & F., II. 5, note. The names of his subject-nations.
1792. S. Rogers, Pleas. Mem., I. 180. As studious Prospero’s mysterious spell Drew every subject-spirit to his cell.
1802. Pinkerton, Mod. Geog., I. 309. Russia in Europe…. Poland has been devoured; Denmark and Sweden may be considered as subject-allies.
a. 1859. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., xxv. V. 296. The Court which had dared to treat England as a subject province.
1873. Morley, Carlyle, in Crit. Misc., 197. The relations between … governing race and subject race.
b. to a law, a jurisdiction.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), II. 391. Firste he sente messagers and heet his enemyes be soget to his lawe.
c. 1450. Lovelich, Grail, xliv. 25. And þat to ȝoure lawe no more soiet þat ȝe be, but Only to the lawe Of Cristyente.
1490. Caxton, Eneydos, viii. 34. Alle subgette and obeyssaunt vnto the lawes of her seygnorye.
1580. Rot. Scacc. Reg. Scot., XXI. 548. Alexander is nocht subject to the jurisdictioun of the saidis commissaris.
1690. Locke, Govt., II. viii. To make him subject to the Laws of any Government.
2. transf. and fig. In a state of subjection or dependence; under the control, rule or influence of something; subordinate.
(a) in predicative position.
α. a. 1340. Hampole, Psalter, xxxvi. 6. Be suget till lord, and pray hym. Ibid. (1340), Pr. Consc., 1055. Þe mare world … suld be til man suggette, For to serve man.
c. 1350. Will. Palerne, 473. My siȝt is soget to my hert.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Serm., Sel. Wks. I. 45. Þei wolden þat al þis world were suget unto þer sect. Ibid. (1382), Luke ii. 51. He cam doun with hem … and was suget to hem.
c. 1430. Hymns Virgin (1867), 71. Deep is sugett to god to bende.
c. 1530. Crt. Love, 1131. Us leffer were with Venus byden still,… and soget been Unto thise women.
β. c. 1374. Chaucer, Troylus, I. 231. He … wax sodeynly most subget vn to loue.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, xviii. (Egipciane), 34. His flesche sa dayntyt he had, þat to þe saule subiet he It mad.
c. 1407. Lydg., Reson & Sens., 6133. For crafte ys subget vn-to kynde.
1474. Caxton, Chesse, II. iii. (1883), 37. A man is subgett vnto money may not be lord therof.
γ. c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 1846. As subiecte vnto syn.
1508. Fisher, 7 Penit. Ps., Wks. (1876), 48. The woman is subgecte to the man.
1538. Starkey, England, I. i. 12. [Man] lord of al other bestys and creaturys, applying them al vnto hys vse, for al be vnto hym subiecte.
a. 1715. Burnet, Own Time, I. (1724), I. 46. The military power ought always to be subject to the civil.
1723. Waterland, 2nd Vind. Christ’s Div., 38. Christ, since his Incarnation, has been subject to the Father.
1841. Helps, Ess. Pract. Wisd. (1875), 5. Imagination, if it be subject to reason, is its ‘slave of the lamp.’
1847. Yeowell, Anc. Brit. Ch., iii. 24. Parts of Britain, inaccessible to the Romans, but subject to Christ.
1864. Tennyson, Aylmer’s Field, 71. Edith, whose pensive beauty, perfect else, But subject to the season or the mood.
(b) in attributive position.
1827. [Tennyson], Poems Two Bro. (1893), 32. A subject world I lost for thee, For thou wert all my world to me.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., I. IV. iv. Upholstery, aided by the subject fine-arts, has done its best.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), III. 56. The virtue of temperance is the friendship of the ruling and the subject-principle.
b. to the power, law, command, etc., of another.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Pars. T., ¶ 1045. Alwey a man shal putten his wyl to be subget to the wille of god.
c. 1400. trans. Secr. Secr., Gov. Lordsh., 55. Þat he ys subgyt to þe hegh myght of god.
c. 1450. trans. De Imitatione, II. xii. 58. Þe worlde & þe flesshe shul be made suget to þi comaundement.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., III. vi. 40. All that liues, is subiect to that law.
1736. Butler, Anal., I. v. Wks. 1874, I. 96. These affections are naturally … subject to the government of the moral principle.
1819. Scott, Ivanhoe, xxiv. Thou art the captive of my bow and spear—subject to my will by the laws of all nations.
1876. Black, Madcap Violet, xv. He would no longer be subject to the caprice of any woman.
c. Under obligation, bound to. rare.
1585. T. Washington, trans. Nicholay’s Voy., III. vij. 80 b. [They] are not subiect as the other are to watch or ward, nor goe vnto the Sarail.
1788. Priestley, Lect. Hist., lxiii. v. 504. He knows that if ever he be subject to pay, he will be proportionably able to do it.
† d. occas. uses: of a domestic animal; of a subordinate member of a series. Obs.
1633. T. Adams, Exp. 2 Peter ii. 4. The first subject beast he [sc. a lion] met withall was an Asse.
1711. Shaftesb., Charac., III. 284. Had the Author of our Subject-Treatises consider’d thorowly of these literate Affairs.
† 3. To make, bring subject: to bring into subjection or submission; to subdue, subjugate. Obs.
1382. Wyclif, 1 Cor. xv. 26. He hath maad suget alle thingis vndir his feet.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), I. 277. Franci … made alle þe lond sogett, ffrom Sicambria anon to þe Ryne.
c. 1440. Gesta Rom., lii. 232. Now he is takyn, & made soget to his Enmyes, & þou art free.
1500–20. Dunbar, Poems, lxxxiv. 44. Suppois my sensualitie Subiect to syn hes maid my saull of syss.
1561. T. Norton, Calvin’s Inst., I. 17. No man could then gesse that there should be any such Cyrus … that should bring subiect so mightie a monarchie vnder his dominion.
1587. Holinshed, Hist. Scot., 258/1. Not ceassing till he had brought the Welshmen subiect at his pleasure.
1643. Burroughes, Exp. 1st 3 ch. Hosea, iv. 294. Conscience … is here made subject to low and vile things.
† 4. Submissive; obedient. Obs.
1390. Gower, Conf., III. 52. His wif was such as sche be scholde, His poeple was to him sougit.
c. 1400. Apol. Loll., 42. To be mek and suget, and seruiciable, obedient and buxum to ilk man.
1474. Caxton, Chesse, II. v. (1883), 61. The peple … ryse agayn theyr lord and wole not be subget.
1508. Dunbar, Tua Mariit Wemen, 327. Quhen I him saw subiect, and sett at myn bydding.
1601. R. Johnson, Kingd. & Commw. (1603), 164. The Moscovite [hath] more subjectes and more subject; the Polonian better soldiers and more couragious.
† b. transf. Easily managed. Obs. rare.
1619. Times’ Storehouse, 690. [Rings] are … so subiect and light, that they may be worne on the least finger of the hand.
II. (Const. to.) 5. Exposed or open to; prone to or liable to suffer from something damaging, deleterious or disadvantageous.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Boeth., III. pr. ii. (1868), 67. It nediþ nat to seie þat blisfulnesse be anguissous ne dreri ne subgit to greuances ne to sorwes [orig. doloribus molestiisque subjectam].
1388. Wyclif, Eccles. iii. 20. Alle thingis ben suget to vanyte [orig. cuncta subjacent vanitati].
c. 1450. Myrr. our Ladye, 191. He that was vndedly was made subget to dethe.
1560. Daus, trans. Sleidane’s Comm., 421. Therfore is he subjecte [orig. objectum] unto great perilles and daungers.
1671. Milton, P. R., II. 471. Subject himself to Anarchy within.
1682. Dryden, Mac Flecknoe, 1. All humane things are subject to decay.
a. 1700. Evelyn, Diary, 24 March 1672. Lord! what miseries are mortal men subject to.
1748. Hill, Hist. Fossils, 346. It is of a very impure, irregular, and somewhat coarse texture, but not subject to spots or clouds.
1760. R. Brown, Compl. Farmer, II. 28. These lands are very subject to worms.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., vii. II. 233. The disabilities to which the Roman Catholics were subject.
1912. W. B. Selbie, Nonconformity, xii. 225. Here and there. Nonconformists will still often be subject to certain social disadvantages.
b. Exposed to violent treatment, damaging weather, or the like.
1490. Caxton, Eneydos, i. 11. To that other she gyueth to be subgette to the face of the ryght blody swerde.
1585. T. Washington, trans. Nicholay’s Voy., IV. xxiii. 139. The citye … is very subiect vnto windes & Earthquakes.
1604. E. G[rimstone], trans. D’Acosta’s Hist. Indies, II. x. 103. This Region is very moist and subiect to raine.
1615. G. Sandys, Trav., 48. The Sultans themselves have bene sometimes subject to their insolencies.
1631. Gouge, God’s Arrows, III. § 6. 192. Gods true Church is subject to assaults in this world.
1726. Leoni, Alberti’s Archit., I. 7. The Isle of Lemnos … being very subject to Lightning.
1768. J. Byron, Narr. Wager (1778), 229. It is much too high built for a country so subject to earthquakes.
1833. Ht. Martineau, Tale of Tyne, vi. Naval seamen are … made subject to violence.
1853. Newman, Hist. Sk. (1876), I. I. ii. 64. The sands of the adjacent deserts … are subject to violent agitation from the action of the wind.
c. Liable to disease.
1577. B. Googe, trans. Heresbach’s Husb., 28. The stalke [of rye] … his eare hanging downewardes, and therefore more subiect to blasting.
1600. J. Pory, trans. Leo’s Africa, VIII. 299. Some of the Egyptians are subiect vnto dangerous rheumes and feuers.
1663. Gerbier, Counsel, 23. The bording otherwayes is much subject to rott.
1756. C. Lucas, Ess. Waters, I. 207. The more compound the water … the more subject will the patients be to fevers.
1863. N. Brit. Rev., May, 375. The leaf and chaff of the cereals are subject to a disease called rust.
1879. Froude, Cæsar, xxviii. 483. He became subject to epileptic fits.
6. Liable to the incidence or recurrence of an action, process or state.
1559. W. Cunningham, Cosmogr. Glasse, 97. That the supercelestiall bodies are subiect to alteration.
1577. St. Aug. Manual, O vj b. Thou art not disseuered by places, nor altered by tymes, nor subiect vnto to & fro.
1598. Shaks., Merry W., III. v. 117. A man of my Kidney … that am as subiect to heate as butter.
1625. B. Jonson, Staple of News, II. Interm. 33. Is there nothing to be call’d Infanta, but what is subiect to exception?
1710. Addison, Tatler, No. 192, ¶ 5. A kind of good Nature, that is not subject to any Change of Health.
1772. Priestley, Inst. Relig. (1782), I. Ded. 2. We are subject to successive impressions.
1817. Jas. Mill, Brit. India, II. V. ix. 715. The parties were rendered subject to personal examination upon oath.
1832. Brewster, Nat. Magic, v. 120. The nose … is more subject to change of perspective than any of the other features.
1855. Forbes, Gram. Hind. Lang., 100. Accompanied by an adjective or pronoun subject to inflection.
1879. in Cassell’s Techn. Educ., IV. 96/1. He discovered that plants were subject to a regular sleep at night like animals.
b. Book-trade. (ellipt.) Subject to discount.
1906. Daily Tel., 12 Oct., 10. What in the trade are known as subject-books … books that is to say which are subject to discount.
† 7. Having a tendency, prone or disposed, to an action, or to do something. Obs.
c. 1590. Montgomerie, Sonn., xxv. 5. Syn I am subject somtyme to be seik.
1595. Shaks., John, III. i. 14. A widdow, husbandles, subiect to feares. Ibid. (1597), 2 Hen. IV., III. ii. 325. How subiect wee old men are to this vice of Lying?
a. 1625. Boys, Wks. (1630), 751. Toll-gatherers, as being subject to many foule extortions and oppressions.
1643. in Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., Var. Coll. IV. 286. Nere any howses or other materialls which are subiect to take fyer.
1666–7. Pepys, Diary, 20 Feb. How mean a thing a king is, how subject to fall.
1683. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., Printing, xxiv. ¶ 11. The Inck would be subject to run off.
1721. Bradley, Philos. Acc. Wks. Nat., 95. The smaller Kinds of Animals, and such as are subject to be destroyed, encrease more plentifully.
1759. R. Brown, Comp. Farmer, 52. Some young sows … are subject to eat their pigs.
1793. Smeaton, Edystone L., § 170. Any thing being in the way … would be subject to hitch upon the stone.
† 8. That may be brought under the operation of a faculty or sense. Obs.
1591. Harington, Orl. Fur., Pref. The holy scriptures … are … not subiect to euerie weake capacitie.
1610. Shaks., Temp., I. ii. 301. Be subiect to no sight but thine, and mine.
1611. Tourneur, Ath. Trag., III. i. I feele a substance warme, Subiect to the Capacitie of sense.
1620. T. Granger, Div. Logike, 41. The formes of artificiall things are subiect to our sence.
1667. Davenant & Dryden, Tempest, V. iii. (1674), 80. They are Spirits, with which the Air abounds … but that they are not subject To poor feeble mortal Eyes.
1668. Culpepper & Cole, Barthol. Anat., I. xxii. 55. Scrotum or Scortum, hanging out like a purse or bag, and subject to the touch.
9. Dependent upon a certain correcting or modifying condition; conditional upon; resting upon the assumption of. Freq. advb., conditionally upon, with the assumption of.
1832. Ht. Martineau, Ireland, v. 77. She wrote to her husband’s dictation, subject to the suggestions of his companions.
1814. Disraeli, Coningsby, IX. vii. Subject to an ample annuity to Villebecque, she bequeathed the whole of her fortune to the husband of Edith.
1883. Law Times, 10 Nov., 21/2. All other business should be transacted by single judges subject to appeal.
1890. Law Times’ Rep., LXIII. 734/1. His power to institute criminal proceedings is subject to the conditions imposed by sect. 2 of that Act.
III. 10. Lying in the neighborhood below a certain level, as that of a spectator; subjacent. Obs. or arch.
1432–50. trans. Higden (Rolls), I. 143. The region Hircany hathe on the este parte to hit the see of Caspy,… on the weste Hiberia, beenge subiecte to Caucasus.
1585. T. Washington, trans. Nicholay’s Voy., I. xvi. 17. This Bourg … is enuironed with great hilles, vnto which of all sides it is subiect.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., I. xi. 19. Long he them bore aboue the subiect plaine. Ibid., III. vii. 4. A little valley, subiect to the same.
1695. Blackmore, Pr. Arth., VI. 14. They … all around the Subject Ocean view’d.
1795. Southey, Joan of Arc, V. (1853), 52. As o’er the subject landskip round I gazed.
1815. ‘Agrestis,’ Feudal Hall, xxii. The Baron’s iron reign O’erawed, for leagues, the subject plain.
† b. Lying immediately below, underlying. Obs.
1578. Banister, Hist. Man, IV. 56. The viij Muscles of Abdomen … are propugnacles, and defences to the subiect partes.
1667. Phil. Trans., II. 497. I suppose, several subject Earths, Currents and Winds do vary it [phosphorescence of the sea].
† c. Laid open so as to be evident. Obs. rare.
1556. R. Robinson, trans. More’s Utopia, S iv. So finely set furth … and so euidently subiect to the eye.
† 11. Forming the substratum or substance. Chiefly in matter subject = SUBJECT-MATTER. Obs.
c. 1374. [see MATTER sb.1 6].
1586. T. B., La Primaud. Fr. Acad., I. 162. Aristotle saith, that nature in one respect is said to be the first and chiefe matter subject of every thing that hath being. Ibid., 441. Looke out some matter subject, apt, and fit to recreate our spirits withall. Ibid., 28 [see MATTER sb.1 9].
1600. J. Pory, trans. Leo’s Africa, II. 70. Hauing made sufficient digression, let us resume the matter subject where we left.
1609. [see MATTER sb.1 6].
1744. H. Brooke, Love of Vanity, 156. And let her form be what you will, I am the subject essence still.
