Forms: α. 4–5 sogett(e, sugett(e, 4–6 soget, sug(g)et, 4 pl. sugges, 5 sogete, sugete, seget (?), sewgyet, soiet, suiet, sogect, sugect. β. 4 subgit, soubgit, 4–5 subgett(e, 4–6 subiet, 5 subgyt, -gite, soubget, pl. subies, -jais, -gees, 5–6 subget, -giet. γ. 4–7 subiect, 5 -giect, 5–6 -iecte, 6 -gect, -yect, -iectt, subect, Sc. pl. subjeckis, 7– subject. [a. OF. suget, soget (12th c.), sougiet, subjit, subg(i)et, etc. (13th c.), subject (15–17th c.), also soubject, suject, mod.F. sujet (from 15th c.), repr. various stages of adoption of L. subject-us masc., subject-um neut., subst. uses of pa. pple. of subicĕre (see next). Cf. Prov. subjet-z, suget-z, It. soggetto, suggetto, and sub(b)ietto, Sp. sugeto, Pg. sujeito. The completely latinized spelling of the Eng. word became established in the 16th c.]
I. 1. One who is under the dominion of a monarch or reigning prince; one who owes allegiance to a government or ruling power, is subject to its laws, and enjoys its protection.
α. c. 1340. Richard Rolle of Hampole, Prick of Conscience, 5578. Þa þat sugettes war til man, Sal accuse þair soveraynes þan.
c. 1394. P. Pl. Crede, 650. Neþer souereyn ne soget þei ne suffreþ neuer.
c. 1449. Pecock, Repr., III. vi. 315. Thei were sugettis to the Emperour of Rome.
c. 1485. Digby Myst. (1882), III. 500. I wol a-wye sovereyns; and soiettes I dys-deyne.
1574. in Maitl. Club Misc., I. 111. Ane trew sugget to the Kingis Majestie.
β. 1399. Gower, In Praise of Peace, 165. Crist is the heved and we ben membres alle, Als wel the subgit as the sovereign.
c. 1400. trans. Secr. Secr., Gov. Lordsh., 51. Kynges … large to subgitz.
1503. Hawes, Examp. Virt., I. 14. Be to thy kynge euer true subgete.
γ. 1538. Starkey, England, I. iii. 82. The commyns agayne the nobullys, and subyectys agayn they[r] rularys.
a. 1568. Ascham, Scholem., I. (Arb.), 86. A quiet subiect to his Prince.
1593. Shaks., 2 Hen. VI., IV. ix. 6. Was neuer Subiect long’d to be a King, As I do long and wish to be a Subiect.
a. 1633. G. Herbert, Jacula Prudentum (1651), 62. For the same man to be an heretick and a good subject, is incompossible.
1649. [see LIBERTY sb. 2].
a. 1687. Petty, Pol. Arith. (1690), 75. I suppose that the King of England hath about Ten Millions of Subjects.
1765. Blackstone, Comm., I. 122. Every wanton and causeless restraint of the will of the subject … is a degree of tyranny.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., iii. I. 308. These three Dukes were supposed to be three of the very richest subjects in England.
1858. Froude, Hist. Eng., IV. xviii. 48. She had taught her son to suspect and dread the worthiest subject that he possessed.
(b) qualified by a possessive or equivalent phrase; also subject of the crown.
α. c. 1380. Wyclif, Sel. Wks., III. 28. Her regalte and her dignyte, by þe whiche þei schulen … rulen hemsilf and her sogetis.
c. 1412. Hoccleve, De Reg. Princ., 2212. Kynges of hir sogetz ben obeyed.
1483. Cely Papers (Camden), 137. To wryte unto the Kynges good grace that he wyll be faverabull unto hys sewgyettes.
1515. in Douglas’ Poet. Wks. (1874), I. p. xxvii. The best belowyt prince and moost dred with lowff of his Lorddis and sugettis.
β. c. 1374. Chaucer, Boeth., III. pr. viii. (1868), 80. Yif þou desiryst power þou shalt by awaites of þi subgitz anoyously be cast vndir many periles.
a. 1400[?]. Morte Arth., 2314. Twa senatours we are, thi subgettez of Rome.
1415. in Ellis, Orig. Lett., Ser. II. I. 48. I Richard York ȝowre humble subgyt and very lege man.
1456. Sir G. Haye, Law Arms (S.T.S.), 297. Alsmony princis with thair subjais.
1483. Act 1 Rich III., c. 1 § 1. The King’s Subgiettis.
1524. in Buccleuch MSS. (Hist. MSS. Comm.), I. 220. Our officers, ministres, and subgiettes.
γ. c. 1400. Maundev. (Roxb.), xi. 41. He commaunded straitely til all his subiectes, þat þai schuld late me see all þe placez.
[1525. More, Hist. Rich. III., Wks. 69/1. She said also yt it was not princely to mary hys owne subiect.
1560. Daus, trans. Sleidane’s Comm., 283 b. The other William Gelluse was a subject of the Lantgraves.
1595. Shaks., John, II. i. 204. Iohn. You men of Angiers, and my louing subiects. Fra. You louing men of Angiers, Arthurs subiects.
1638. R. Baker, trans. Balzac’s Lett. (vol. II.), 14. Our Prince will put no yoke upon the consciences of his Subjects.
1733. Swift (title), A serious and useful Scheme to make an Hospital for Incurables; of universal Benefit to all his Majesty’s Subjects.
1765. Blackstone, Comm., I. 263. The king has … the prerogative of … granting place or precedence to any of his subjects.
1827. Hallam, Const. Hist. (1842), II. 505. No subjects of the crown in Ireland enjoyed such influence, at this time, as the earls of Kildare.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), IV. 504. The … kings of our own day very much resemble their subjects in education and breeding.
(c) of a specified country or state; also, subject of the realm.
α. 1436. in Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., Var. Coll. IV. 199. To Us and to alle oure sugectis of the same [reame].
γ. a. 1578. Lindesay (Pitscottie), Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.), I. 16. To bring all the subjecttis of this realme to peace and rest.
1686. trans. Chardin’s Trav. Persia, 52. There was not any one Subject of the Republick who was a Knight of Malta.
1713. Steele, Englishm., No. 3. 15. When I say an Englishman, I mean every true Subject of Her Majesty’s Realms.
1747. State Trials (1813), XVIII. 859. By naturalizing or employing a subject of Great Britain.
1912. Times, 19 Oct., 5/1. Subjects of the Slav States throughout the Ottoman Empire.
(d) with adj. of nationality.
1810. Bentham, Packing (1821), 253. Though a very obscure and insignificant person, I have the honour to be a British subject.
1886. Froude, Oceana, 98. Their Monro doctrine, prohibiting European nations from settling on their side of the Atlantic, except as American subjects.
† b. collect. sing. The subjects of a realm. ? Also transf. in quot. 1608 (Only Shaks.) Obs.
1602. Shaks., Ham., I. ii. 33. In that the Leuies … are all made Out of his subiect. Ibid. (1603), Meas. for M., III. ii. 145. The greater file of the subiect held the Duke to be wise. Ibid. (1608), Per., II. i. 53. How from the finny subject of the sea These fishers tell the infirmities of men.
† 2. One who is bound to a superior by an obligation to pay allegiance, service or tribute ; spec. a feudal inferior or tenant; a vassal, retainer; a dependant, subordinate; an inferior. Obs.
α. c. 1315. Shoreham, Poems, IV. 276. Ho hys þat neuer ne kedde woȝ In boste to hys sugges?
c. 1383. in Engl. Hist. Rev. (1911), Oct., 748. Seculer lordis owen … to treete reesonabli & charitabli here tenauntis & sogetis.
a. 1400. Minor Poems fr. Vernon MS., 546/368. Haue mesure to þi soget.
a. 1400–50. Wars Alex., 2682. As soiet serued haue I þat sire many sere wyntir.
c. 1450. Merlin, i. 6. Youre suster is elder than ye, and so she wolde alwey holde yow as her sogect.
β. c. 1386. Chaucer, Sompn. T., 282. With-Inne thyn hous ne be thou no leoun, To thy subgitz do noon oppressioun.
1420. in Ellis, Orig. Lett., Ser. III. I. 68. Hys heires, vassalles, and subgees.
a. 1475. Ashby, Active Policy, 898. Saint petur saithe þat soubgettes shold be Buxom to thar lorde.
c. 1489. Caxton, Sonnes of Aymon, i. 25. Thou knowest well that thou arte his man, vaysall, and subgette.
a. 1533. Ld. Berners, Huon, xlii. 142. Thou to be my subgett, and to pay me trybute.
γ. c. 1430. Lydg., Min. Poems (MS. Harl. 2251 fol. 5 b). Ayenst thy felawe no quarele thow contryve: With thy subiect to stryve it were shame.
c. 1450. Godstow Reg., 1. Alle lordes þat … forbedith her subiectes þat ben acursed to go out of þe church.
1530. Palsgr., 278/1. Subjecte or holder of house or lande, uassal.
c. 1530. Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1903), 60. Selle no parte of thyne heritage vnto thy bettyr, but for lesse pryce selle yt to thy subiecte.
1593. Shaks., Rich. II., V. ii. 39. To Bullingbrooke, are we sworne Subiects now.
1681. [see SUBFEU].
[1728. Chambers, Cycl., s.v., Anciently, the Lords call’d, abusively, those who held Lands or Fees of them, or ow’d them any Homage, Subjects.]
† b. One who owes allegiance or obedience to a spiritual superior. Obs.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Sel. Wks., III. 355. Þat ȝif he [sc. the pope] hadde siche power, he shulde assoile alle hise sugetis fro peyne and fro trespas.
1425. Rolls of Parlt., IV. 306/1. Ye said Lordes Spirituell hath promitted … to calle yere subgettes to residence.
c. 1450. Capgrave, Life St. Gilbert, vii. He chase on of his subiectis whom he knewe be þe Holy Goost þat he schuld succede in his office aftir his deth.
1513. Bradshaw, St. Werburge, I. 3360. Her systers, and subiettes, a religious couent.
1552. Abp. Hamilton, Catech. (1884), 3. Al baith prelates & subjeckis.
† c. One who is under the spiritual oversight or charge of a parish priest; one of a ‘curate’s’ parishioners. Obs.
c. 1340. Hampole, Prose Treat., 24. Vnto thes men itt longith … to vsene werkis of mercy … in helpe and sustinaunce of hem silfe and of hir sugettis.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Wks. (1880), 73. Sugetis taken ensaumple at here curatis.
c. 1449. Pecock, Repr., II. xii. 219. A curat mai not … alwey rynge at the eeris of hise suggettis.
c. 1450. Lay Folks Mass Bk., 68. God gyf þame grace so well for to teche þare sugettis ilke curet in his degre. [Ibid. (1509), 75.]
3. A person (rarely, a thing) that is in the control or under the dominion of another; one who owes obedience to another.
α. 13[?]. Seuyn Sag. (W.), 458. Kes me, leman, and loue me, And I thi soget wil i-be.
a. 1340. Hampole, Psalter ii. 10. Þai ere þe sugetis til þe deuel.
c. 1430. Hymns Virgin (1867), 63. Make him þi suget, to þee to swere Þat he schal not discure þi name.
c. 1440. York Myst., iv. 16. All other creatours also there-tyll Your suggettes shall they bee.
c. 1450. Mirk’s Festial, 25. And soo schowe hym seruant and soget to hym, and knewlech þys schyld [= child] for hys God.
β. c. 1374. Chaucer, Troylus, II. 828. O loue to whom I haue and shal Ben humble subgit.
γ. c. 1440. Jacob’s Well, xxxiii. 214. Resoun sufferyth his wyif, þat is, his subiecte coueytise, to spedyn in causes of falsnesse in ryche men.
1588. Kyd, Househ. Phil., Wks. (1901), 254. By Nature woman was made mans subiect.
1590. Shaks., Com. Err., II. i. 19. The beasts, the fishes, and the winged fowles Are their males subiects.
1671. Milton, Samson, 886. Nor was I their subject, Nor under their protection but my own.
1812. Crabbe, Tales, v. 201. Beauties are tyrants, and if they can reign, They have no feeling for their subject’s pain.
1865. R. W. Dale, Jewish Temp., xxiv. (1871), 270. Every member of the human race is a subject of the Lord Jesus.
b. transf.
c. 1520. Nisbet, N. T., Prol. (S.T.S.), I. 3. Thai were all in bondage and sugettis of syn.
1625. Bacon, Ess., Anger (Arb.), 565. Anger is certainly a kinde of Basenesse: As it appeares well, in the Weaknesse of those Subiects, in whom it reignes.
a. 1721. Prior, Vicar of Bray & Sir T. Moor, Wks. 1907, II. 248. My knowledge in Divine and Human Law gave me to understand I was born a Subject to both.
1818. Brathwait’s Barnabee’s Jrnl., Introd. 67. It is of the essence of fashion to descend in the subjects of its dominion.
4. Law. a. A thing over which a right is exercised.
1765–8. Erskine, Inst. Laws Scot., II. x. § 32. 351. As orchards produce no fruits that are the subjects either of parsonage or vicarage tithes.
1875. Digby, Real Prop., I. App. (1876), 266. By the subject of a right is meant the thing … over which the right is exercised. My house, horse, or watch is the subject of my right of property.
1875. [see SUABLE].
b. Sc. A piece of property.
1754. Erskine, Princ. Sc. Law, II. i. § 1 (1757), I. 105. The things or subjects to which persons have right, are the second object of law. The right of enjoying and disposing of a subject at one’s pleasure is called property. Ibid., III. viii. § 32. II. 376. Full inventory of all his predecessor’s heritable subjects.
1819. J. Marshall, Const. Opin. (1839), 154. The distinction between property and other subjects to which the power of taxation is applicable.
1864. N. Brit. Advertiser, 21 May. Subjects in Nelson and Kent Streets to be exposed to sale by public roup.
1903. Dundee Advertiser, 22 Dec., 5. Those holding ‘subjects’ of that kind.
c. Considered as the object of an agreement.
1838. W. Bell, Dict. Law Scot., 581. Where the subject of the lease is rendered unfit for the purposes for which it was let, overblown with sand, inundated [etc.].
II. Senses derived ultimately (through L. subjectum) from Aristotle’s use of τὸ ὑποκείμενον in the threefold sense of (1) material out of which things are made, (2) subject of attributes, (3) subject of predicates.
† 5. The substance of which a thing consists or from which it is made. Obs.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Boeth., V. pr. i. (1868), 150. Þei casten as a manere of foundement of subgit material [de materiali subjecto] þat is to seyn of the nature of alle resoun.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., III. xxi. (1495), 68. Yf the wytt of gropyng is all loste the subget of alle the beest [orig. subjectum totius animalis] is destroyed.
1590. Marlowe, 2nd Pt. Tamburl., V. iii. [4557, 4561]. Amy. … Your soul giues essence to our wretched subiects, Whose matter is incorporoat [sic] in your flesh…. Tam. But sons, this subiect not of force enough, To hold the fiery spirit it containes.
1651. French, Distill., v. 109. Thus do these attractive vertues mutually act upon each others subject.
1669. Worlidge, Syst. Agric. (1681), 9. That Universal Subject, or Spiritus Mundi, out of which they are formed.
1775. Harris, Philos. Arrangem., Wks. (1841), 267. Every thing generated or made … is generated or made out of something else; and this something else is called its subject or matter.
6. Philos. The substance in which accidents or attributes inhere. Subject of inhesion or † inherence: see these sbs.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Wks. (1880), 19. Ȝif þei seyn, written and techen openly þat þe sacrament of þe auter þat men seen bitwen þe prestis hondis is accidentis wiþ-outen suget.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XIX. cxvi. (1495), 920. As whan tweyne accidentes ben in one substaunce and subiecte: as colour and sauour.
c. 1400. in Apol. Loll. (Camden), p. vii. That the sacrid oost is … accident withouten ony subiect.
1551. T. Wilson, Logic, C ij. Wee se heate in other thynges to be separated from the Subiecte.
1609. Bible (Douay), Gen. i. 16 comm., Ancient Doctors judged it possible, that accidents may remaine without their subject.
1614. Selden, Titles Hon., 126. It hath been questioned, which is the more both elegant and honorable … whether to say Serenissime Princeps à te peto, or A Serenitate Vestrâ peto. And some haue thought the first forme the best, because in that the Accidents and Subiects are together exprest.
1616. Bullokar, Eng. Exp., s.v., The body is the subiect in which is health, or sickenesse, and the minde the subiect that receiueth into it vertues or vices.
1678. Gale, Crt. Gentiles, IV. III. 5. Albeit sin be … a mere privation, yet it requires some positive, real natural Being for its subject.
1728. Chambers, Cycl., s.v., Two Contraries can never subsist in the same Subject.
1762. Kames, Elem. Crit. (1833), 487. The same thing, in different respects, has different names; with respect to qualities of all sorts, it is termed a subject.
1836–7. Sir W. Hamilton, Metaph., viii. (1859), I. 137. 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. Ibid., ix. 158. The general meaning of the word subject in its philosophical application,—viz. the unknown basis of phænomenal or manifested existence.
1858. Whewell, Hist. Sci. Ideas, I. 35. The mind is the subject in which ideas inhere.
† b. A thing having real independent existence.
1603. Shaks., Meas. for M., V. i. 458. Thoughts are no subiects; Intents, but meerely thoughts.
7. Logic. a. That which has attributes; the thing about which a judgment is made.
1551. T. Wilson, Logic, M ij b. As touchyng wordes knitte, ye maie vnderstand, that they are ioyned outwardly to the Subiect, and geue a name vnto him, according as they are.
1697. trans. Burgersdicius his Logic, I. xix. 72. A Subject is that to which something is adjoyn’d besides its Essence. And an Adjunct that which is adjoyn’d to something besides its Essence.
1838. [F. Haywood], trans. Kant’s Crit. Pure Reason, Introd. iv. 10. Extending judgments … add a predicate to the conception of the subject.
1843. Mill, Logic, I. ii. § 5. By a subject is here meant any thing which possesses attributes.
1864. Bowen, Logic, i. 5. The Concept … brings together many objects into one Thought or many attributes into one subject.
1883. F. H. Bradley, Princ. Logic, 14. We shall see that the subject is in the end no idea but always reality.
b. The term or part of a proposition of which the predicate is affirmed or denied.
Earlier treatises on logic use the L. subjectum.
1620. T. Granger, Div. Logike, 178. The proposition hath two parts, the Subiect, and Predicate.
1697. trans. Burgersdicius his Logic, I. xxvii. 109. Simple enunciation consisteth of a subject and a predicate.
1796. Nitsch’s View Kant’s Princ., 128. Collections of properties, which in a judgment are made the predicates of a subject.
1843. Mill, Logic, I. i. § 2. The subject is the name denoting the person or thing which something is affirmed or denied of.
1870. Jevons, Elem. Logic, vii. 62. It is … usual to call the first term of a proposition the subject, since it denotes the underlying matter.
8. Gram. The member or part of a sentence denoting that concerning which something is predicated (i.e., of which a statement is made, a question asked, or a desire expressed); a word or group of words setting forth that which is spoken about and constituting the ‘nominative’ to a finite verb.
In the accus. and infin. construction the accus. is the subject of the infin.
a. 1638. [see PREDICATE sb. 2].
1733. J. Clarke, Gram. Lat. Tongue, 68, note. The Nominative Case to a Verb … is called by Grammarians the Subject of the Verb.
1751. J. H[arris], Hermes, II. i. 230. In English these are distinguished by their Position, the Subject standing first, the Predicate last.
1874. Bain, Comp. Higher Eng. Gram. (1877), p. xxiii. Infinitive (logical subject) anticipated by ‘it,’ ‘this,’ &c. (formal subject) comes after the predicate. Ibid., 299. Cases where the grammatical subject is a neuter pronoun—‘it,’ ‘this’—standing as a provisional anticipation of the real subject or fact predicated about.
1888. Strong, trans. Paul’s Princ. Hist. Lang., 112. We have to distinguish between the psychological and the grammatical subject or predicate.
9. Modern Philos. More fully conscious or thinking subject: The mind, as the ‘subject’ in which ideas inhere; that to which all mental representations or operations are attributed; the thinking or cognizing agent; the self or ego. (Correlative to OBJECT sb. 6.)
The tendency in modern philosophy after Descartes to make the mind’s consciousness of itself the starting-point of enquiry led to the use of subjectum for the mind or ego considered as the subject of all knowledge, and since Kant this has become the general philosophical use of the word (with its derivatives subjective, etc.).
[The following quots. illustrate a transitional use:—
1682. Rust, Disc. Truth, xviii. Thus have we spoken concerning the truth of things, or Truth in the Object: It follows that we speak concerning Truth in the power, or faculty, which we call Truth in the Subject.
1697. Norris, Acc. Reason & Faith, i. (1724), 19. I consider … that the most general distribution of Reason is into that of the Object and that of the Subject; or, to word it more intelligibly, though perhaps not altogether so Scholastically, into that of the Thing, and that of the Understanding].
1796. Nitsch’s View Kant’s Princ., 73. In every knowledge, perception, &c., there is something which refers to an object, and something which refers to the knowing or perceiving subject.
1817. Coleridge, Biog. Lit., xii. (1907), I. 184. A spirit is … an absolute subject for which all, itself included, may become an object.
1829. Edin. Rev., L. 196, note. The thinking subject, the Ego.
1838. [F. Haywood], trans. Kant’s Crit. Pure Reason, 293. The thinking subject is the object of Psychology.
1851. Mansel, Proleg. Log., i. (1860), 7–8. Every state of consciousness necessarily implies two elements at least; a conscious subject, and an object of which he is conscious.
1886. Encycl. Brit., XX. 39/1. The conception of a mind or conscious subject is to be found implicitly or explicitly in all psychological writers whatever.
III. 10. The subject matter of an art or science.
1541. R. Copland, Guydon’s Quest. Cyrurg., B iij. Euery workeman is bounde to knowe the subiect of his worke in whiche he worketh.
1563. Fulke, Meteors, 1. Whether we maye borowe ye name of meteoron to comprehende the whole subiect of oure woorke.
1656. trans. Hobbes’ Elem. Philos., I. i. 7. The Subject of Philosophy, or the matter it treats of, is every Body of which we can conceive any generation.
1728. Chambers, Cycl., s.v., The Subject of Logic, is Thinking or Reasoning. Ibid., Subject is also used for the Matter of an Art or Science…: Thus the human Body is the Subject of Medicine.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), I. 4. All sciences have a subject, number is the subject of arithmetic.
1888. Strong, trans. Paul’s Princ. Hist. Lang., 1, marg. Subject of the Science of Language.
11. A thing affording matter for action of a specified kind; a ground, motive or cause.
In some quots. a Gallicism.
1586. Lett. to Earle of Leycester, 6. The very ground and onely subject, whereupon such daungerous practises and complots had been founded.
1651. trans. De-las-Coveras’ Don Fenise, 115. Fenise asked him what subject he had to attempt against his life.
1652. Loveday, trans. Calprenede’s Cassandra, I. 15. I have my selfe as much or more subject to hate life than you.
1655. trans. Sorel’s Com. Hist. Francion, X. 10. I have subject enough to be angry with you.
1756. Mrs. Calderwood, in Coltness Collect. (Maitland Club), 129. That had anybody been inclined to laugh, they might have had a good subject.
1831. Scott, Cast. Dang., ix. Which had never given the English government the least subject of complaint.
1843. Penny Cycl., XXVII. 512/1. In such circumstances subjects of accusation are not long wanting.
1893. Oman, Dark Ages, xx. We might perhaps have learnt that Charles also gave subjects for offence.
b. Const. for.
1598. Shaks., Merry W., II. i. 3. What, haue scap’d Loue-letters in the holly-day-time of my beauty, and am I now a subiect for them?
1616. Marlowe’s Faustus, Wks. (1910), 222. Let them come in, They are good subiect for a merriment.
1780. Mirror, No. 83. The great subject for wit and ludicrous representation arises from men’s having a thorough knowledge of what is the fashionable standard of manners.
1816. J. Wilson, City of Plague, III. iv. I am no subject for your mirth.
c. That which can be drawn upon or utilized, means of doing something. rare.
1752. Hume, Ess. & Treat. (1817), I. 265. Where they [sc. indulgences] … entrench upon no virtue, but leave ample subject whence to provide for friends, family, [etc.].
12. That which is or may be acted or operated upon; a person or thing towards which action or influence is directed, or that is the recipient of some treatment.
1592. Shaks., Rom. & Jul., III. v. 212. Alacke, alacke, that heauen should practise stratagems Vpon so soft a subiect as my selfe. Ibid. (1606), Tr. & Cr., II. ii. 160. There’s … none so Noble, Whose life were ill bestow’d, or death vnfam’d, Where Helen is the subiect.
1611. Tourneur, Ath. Trag., V. i. Nor could the first Man, being but the passiue Subiect not The Actiue Mouer, be the Maker of Himselfe.
1753. Miss Collier, Art Torment., I. i. (1811), 37. All the pleasure of tormenting is lost, as soon as your subject is become insensible to your strokes.
1764. Reid, Inquiry, i. § 1. In the noblest arts, the mind is also the subject upon which we operate.
1777. Priestley, Matter & Sp. (1782), I. Pref. 33. Power cannot mean anything without a subject.
1852. Mrs. Stowe, Uncle Tom’s C., xx. She approached her new subject very much as a person might be supposed to approach a black spider.
1898. A. G. Mortimer, Cath. Faith & Practice, I. 140. The subject of Baptism is any human being, whether an adult or an infant.
b. Const. of a specified action or activity.
1591. Shaks., 1 Hen. VI., IV. vi. 49. To be Shames scorne, and subiect of Mischance. Ibid. (1605), Macb., III. iii. 8. And neere approches The subiect of our Watch.
1634. Sir T. Herbert, Trav., 117. [The Turks] haue made this Citie, a subiect of their bloudy cruelty.
1696. Whiston, Th. Earth, 87. Not the vast Universe, but the Earth alone, with its dependencies, are the proper subject of the Six Days Creation.
1711. Steele, Spect., No. 53, ¶ 2. The Triumph of Daphne over her Sister Letitia has been the Subject of Conversation at Several Tea-Tables.
1796. Eliza Hamilton, Lett. Hindoo Rajah (1811), I. 204. The many subjects of wonder with which a stranger is surrounded.
1823. Scott, Quentin D., xix. The huge wains, which transported to and fro the subjects of export and import. Ibid. (1831), Cast. Dang., vi. The most bold and fierce subjects of chase in the island of Britain.
1847. Helps, Friends in C., I. v. 73. Proficiency in any one subject of human endeavour.
1855. Bain, Senses & Int., II. ii. § 45. 537. I may here refer to what is a common subject of remark.
1883. Gilmour, Mongols, xvii. 207. Such … difficulties … are welcomed rather as subjects of debate than felt to be barriers to the acceptance of Christianity.
† c. One who or a thing which is subject to something injurious. Obs.
1592. Marlowe, Massacre Paris, 222. [They will] rather seeke to scourge their enemies, Than be themselues base subiects to the whip.
1597. Shaks., 2 Hen. IV., I. iii. 61. Who … leaues his part-created Cost [viz. a half-built house] A naked subiect to the Weeping Clouds.
d. An object with which a person’s occupation or business is concerned or on which he exercises his craft; † (one’s) business; that which is operated upon manually or mechanically.
[1541. R. Copland, Guydon’s Quest. Cyrurg., B iij. Yf it so be that the subiecte of the Cyrurgyen be the body of menkynde.]
1766. W. Gordon, Gen. Counting-ho., 102. Waste-book, containing an Inventory of my Subject.
1828. Steuart, Planter’s Guide (ed. 2), 267. The above Machine … is capable of removing subjects of from eighteen to about eight-and-twenty feet high.
1837. Keith, Bot. Lex., 22. The bark…. In young subjects it is of a flexible and leathery texture.
1887. Pall Mall Gaz., 6 July, 2/2. You must consider the capital we have to sink in our ‘subjects’ [sc. of a menagerie] when you calculate our expenses.
e. A body used for anatomical examination or demonstration; a dead body intended for or undergoing dissection.
1710. Phil. Trans., XXVII. 71. In our Subject the Hairs are every where pretty long. Ibid. (1729), XXXVI. 167. This Subject … had her Lungs full of small Tubercles.
1775. True Patriot, IX. 330. The gentleman of the house [a surgeon] declared he had a very good subject above in the garret.
1829. Scott, Jrnl., II. 219. The total and severe exclusion of foreign supplies raises the price of the ‘subjects.’
1870. H. Lonsdale, Robt. Knox, 54. The supply of ‘subjects’ was so inadequate, that the surgeons’ apprentices … determined upon the … step of procuring them from the graveyards.
f. A person who presents himself for or undergoes medical or surgical treatment; hence, one who is affected with some disease.
A good (bad) subject: a patient who has (has not) good prospects of improvement or recovery.
1822–34. Good’s Study Med. (ed. 4), III. 485. The subject was forty-five years of age, and had evinced a slight rhachitic tendency from infancy.
1849. Cupples, Green Hand, xv. I asked if there wasn’t any chance [of the captain’s recovery]. ‘Oh, the captain, you mean?’ said he, ‘don’t think there is—he’s a bad subject!’
1859. Todd’s Cycl. Anat., V. 178/2. Two of the subjects died after severe instrumental labour.
1898. H. Brown, Secret Gd. Health, 91. Smoking helps the subject to rest.
1898. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., V. 276. A broad line of dilated venules is often seen in emphysematous subjects.
1905. Rolleston, Dis. Liver, 260. Patients with cirrhosis are … far from good subjects.
g. Psychical Research. A person upon whom an experiment is made.
1883. Proc. Soc. Psych. Research, 18 July, 251. A specific influence or effluence, passing from the operator to the ‘subject.’
1886. Gurney, etc., Phantasms of Living, I. 16. The ‘subject’s’ hand seemed to obey the other person’s will with almost the same directness as that person’s own hand would have done.
h. A person under the influence of religious enthusiasm. rare.
1820. Southey, Wesley, I. 417. Subjects began to cry out, and sink down in the meeting.
i. With epithet: A person in respect of his conduct or character. rare.
Cf. F. mauvais sujet.
1848. Dickens, Dombey, xxxix. Unable … to satisfy his mind whether Mr. Toots was the mild subject he appeared to be.
13. In a specialized sense: That which forms or is chosen as the matter of thought, consideration or inquiry; a topic, theme.
The human subject: man, regarded as a matter for study or observation.
1586. B. Young, trans. Guazzo’s Civ. Conv., IV. 208. Now that Lorde Hercules hathe geuen occasion to talke of this subiecte.
1667. Decay Chr. Piety, 346. Here he would have us … fix our thoughts and studies: Nor need we fear that they are too dry a subject for our contemplation.
a. 1700. Evelyn, Diary, 13 June 1683. We shew’d him divers experiments on the magnet, on which subject the Society were upon.
1729. Butler, Serm., Wks. 1874, II. 51. Justice must be done to every part of a subject when we are considering it.
1780. Mirror, No. 89. As for politics, it was a subject far beyond the reach of any female capacity.
1794. Mrs. Radcliffe, Myst. Udolpho, xxxviii. ‘Alas! I know it too well,’ replied Emily: ‘spare me on this terrible subject.’
1828. Miss Mitford, in L’Estrange, Life (1870), II. xi. 247. History never will sell so well as more familiar and smaller subjects.
1837. Disraeli, Venetia, II. i. Her father had become a forbidden subject.
1872. Morley, Voltaire (1886), 9/9. He always paid religion respect enough to treat it as the most important of all subjects.
1874. Carpenter, Mental Phys., I. ii. (1879), 70. The phenomena presented by the Human subject.
1902. Violet Jacob, Sheep-Stealers, viii. The Pig-driver seated himself beside him and plunged immediately into his subject.
b. With appositional phr. formed with of and expressing the nature of the subject.
1724. Swift, Drapier’s Lett., Wks. 1841, II. 34/1. In examining what I have already written … upon the subject of Mr. Wood.
1733. Pres. St. Popery, 21. The late exceptions of a certain Lincolnshire minister on the subject of infallibility.
1765. Museum Rust., IV. 294. The subject of grasses is very nice.
1816. Scott, Old Mort., xxxviii. After quoting Delrio, and Burthoog, and De L’Ancre, on the subject of apparitions.
1839. Fr. A. Kemble, Resid. in Georgia (1863), 35. The indifference of our former manager upon the subject of the accommodation for the sick.
c. On one’s subject (= F. sur son sujet): concerning one. (A Gallicism.)
1747. Chesterf., Lett., cxviii. Two letters, which I have lately seen from Lausanne, upon your subject.
1775. W. Mason, Life of Gray (ed. 2), 3. To make it necessary I should enlarge upon his subject.
d. An object of study in relation to its use for pedagogic or examining purposes; a particular department of art or science in which one is instructed or examined.
1843. Penny Cycl., XXVI. 29/1. An examination for honours in each subject is held subsequently.
1887. Whitaker’s Alm., 540. If an officer only pass in the subjects necessary for a subaltern.
1913. Rep. 7th Ann. Mtg. Hist. Assoc., 8. Every man who teaches a subject well and with real enthusiasm.
14. The theme of a literary composition; what a book, poem, etc., is about.
a. 1586. Sidney, Ps. CIV. i. Make, O my soule, the subject of thy songe, Th’eternall Lord.
1596. Warner, Alb. Eng., X. lx. (1602), 266. Though stately be the subiect, and toa slender be our Arte.
1638. R. Baker, trans. Balzac’s Lett. (vol. II.), 72. I did not think to have gone so far; it is the subject that hath carried me away.
c. 1645. Milton, Sonn., xi. A Book was writ of late call’d Tetrachordon;… The Subject new. Ibid. (1667), P. L., IX. 25. Since first this Subject for Heroic Song Pleas’d me long choosing.
1780. Mirror, No. 85. A poem may be possessed of very considerable merit,… though, from its subject, its length, or the manner in which it is written, it may not be suited to the Mirror.
1835. T. Mitchell, Acharn. Aristoph., 365, note. All of them subjects dramatized by Euripides.
1844. Whewell, Lett. to J. G. Marshall, 29 Jan. The subject of my lectures is the difficulties of constructing a system of morals.
1903. A. B. Davidson, Old Test. Prophecy, ix. 136. The developments of heathenism form the subject of Daniel.
b. The person of whom a biography is written.
1741. Middleton, Cicero, I. Pref. p. xv. They [sc. writers of particular lives] are apt to be partial and prejudiced in favor of their subject.
1791. Boswell, Johnson, Adv. 1st ed., The delay of its publication must be imputed … to the extraordinary zeal which has been shewn … to supply me with additional information concerning its illustrious subject.
1885. Pall Mall Gaz., 18 Feb., 5/2. We think we like the book best because of the view it gives of the subject’s character.
15. An object, a figure or group of figures, a scene, an incident, etc., chosen by an artist for representation.
1614. in Archaeologia, XLII. 360. Another … picture of the same subject.
1695. Dryden, trans. Dufresnoy’s Art Paint., 11. The next thing is to make choice of a Subject beautifull and noble.
c. 1790. Imison, Sch. Arts, II. 55. The subject to be painted should be situated in such a manner that the light may fall with every advantage on the face.
1859. Reeve, Brittany, 13. I was looking round the little knot of soldiers for a subject.
1872. Ruskin, Eagle’s Nest, § 163. You must always draw for the sake of your subject—never for the sake of your picture.
1893. J. A. Hodges, Elem. Photogr., 112. If the subject is so shaky as to render it impossible to take the portrait without its [sc. a headrest’s] aid.
b. In decorative art, a representation of human figures or animals, an action or incident.
1828. Duppa, Trav. Italy, etc. 14. Ten compartments filled with subjects from the Old Testament.
1867. Paris Exhib., Rep. Artisans Soc. Arts, 27. A pair of vases painted all round with subjects after Watteau.
16. Mus. The theme or principal phrase of a composition or movement; in a fugue, the exposition, dux or proposition.
1753. Chambers’ Cycl., Suppl., s.v. Sogetto, Contrapunto sopra il sogetto, a counterpoint above the subject, is that of which the subject is the bass.
1801. Busby, Dict. Mus., Subject, the theme or text of any movement.
1883. Rockstro, in Grove’s Dict. Mus., III. 747/2. The earliest known form of Subject is the Ecclesiastical Cantus firmus.
1898. G. B. Shaw, Perf. Wagnerite, 3. In classical music there are, as the analytical programs tell us, first subjects and second subjects, free fantasias, recapitulations, and codas.
† 17. That upon which something stands; a base. Obs. rare–1.
1592. R. D., Hypnerotomachia, 12. The Pægma base or subiect for this metaline machine to stand vpon, was of one solyde peece of marble.
IV. 18. attrib. and Comb., as (sense 8) subject noun, (also 7 b) part, (sense 14, chiefly with reference to cataloguing books according to their subjects) subject catalogue, index, list, reference; subject-monger, one who exploits his subjects; subject picture, a genre painting.
1889. Wheatley, How to Catal. Libr., 232. If he wants to find a manuscript upon a particular subject, he can look at the *subject catalogue.
1899. Quinn, Libr. Catal., 71. The forms of *subject entries in dictionary catalogues.
1879. Rep. Index Soc., 3. *Subject Indexes of Science, Literature, and Art.
1902. (title) *Subject List of Works on General Science [etc.].
1630. Lennard, trans. Charron’s Wisd., III. iii. § 12 (1670), 363. A Prince must carefully preserve himself … from resembling, by over-great and excessive imposition, those tyrants, *subject-mongers, Cannibals.
1844. Disraeli, Coningsby, III. iii. A cutting reply to Mr. Rigby’s article with some searching mockery, that became the subject and the subject-monger.
1862. E. Adams, Elem. Eng. Lang. (1870), 158. When the *subject noun is accompanied by qualifying or explanatory words, it is said to be enlarged.
1628. T. Spencer, Logick, 21. The first substance, or *subiect part of every sentence. Ibid., 255. The antecedent, or subiect part of the conclusion.
1862. Thornbury, Turner, I. 257. His first *subject picture was ‘Fishermen at Sea,’ 1796.
1889. Wheatley, How to Catal. Libr., 180. It is something appalling to conjecture what would be the size of the British Museum Catalogue if *subject references were included in the general alphabet.
