Forms: 4 suget(t)e, soget(t)e, sochete; 4–7 subiect(e, 6 Sc. subgek, pa. t. and pple. subie(c)kit, 6– subject. [ad. OF. subjecter, -gecter, -getter, or L. subjectāre, frequent. f. sub(j)icĕre, subject- (see prec.); cf. It. soggettare, suggettare, Sp. sujetar, subjetar, Pg. sujeitar. Some of the early Eng. forms are assimilated to the α-forms of the sb. and adj.]
1. trans. To make (persons, a nation or country) subject to a conquering or sovereign power; to bring into subjection to a superior; to subjugate. Also refl. Obs. or arch.
1382. Wyclif, 2 Chron. xxviii. 10 (MS. Douce 370). The sonis of Juda and of Jerusalem ȝee wiln subjecten to ȝou seruauntis and hond wymmen.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), VII. 169. Þe forseide Harolde, kyng of Norway … subjectid unto hym Denmark.
c. 1460. in Maitl. Club Misc., III. (1855), 38. Efter that the Romanis subjectit the Britones.
1530. Palsgr., 742/1. They be nowe subjected to the emperour.
1565. Reg. Privy Council Scot., I. 362. Doand that in thame lyis to subject the haill stait of the commoun weill.
1601. R. Johnson, Kingd. & Commw. (1603), 162. Some of them haue subiected themselues to this crowne.
1651. Hobbes, Leviathan, II. xix. 95. Men … consequently may subject themselves, if they think good, to a Monarch.
1667. Milton, P. L., XII. 93. God in Judgement just Subjects him from without to violent Lords.
1734. trans. Rollin’s Anc. Hist. (1827), I. Pref. 1. The Medes and Persians who were themselves subjected by the Macedonians.
b. to the rule, government, power or service of a superior.
1552. Abp. Hamilton, Catech. (1884), 3. All subjeckit to the service of ane lord.
1556. Lauder, Tractate of Kyngis, 362. How thay suld Instruct thare floke That ar subiectit to thare ȝoke.
a. 1661. Fuller, Worthies, Derbyshire (1662), I. 233. A meek … man, much beloved of such who were subjected to his jurisdiction.
1693. Dryden, Last Parting of Hector & Androm., 125. I see thee, in that fatal Hour, Subjected to the Victor’s cruel Pow’r.
a. 1700. Evelyn, Diary, Sept. 1646. Should the Swisse … be subjected to the rule of France or Spaine.
1835. Thirlwall, Greece, vii. I. 272. Phalces subjected Sicyon to the Dorian sway.
1839. Keightley, Hist. Eng., II. 42. Subjecting them to an unheard of tyranny.
1853. Newman, Hist. Sk. (1876), I. I. ii. 71. The service to which they were subjected was no matter of choice.
2. To render submissive or dependent; to bring into a state of subordination or submission.
1382. Wyclif, Ecclus. iv. 31 (MS. Douce 369). Ne sochete thou thee to eche man for synne.
c. 1400. Apol. Loll., 75. Þe condicoun of Jewis … þat is sogetid not to mannis tradicoun, but to Goddis ordinaunce. Ibid., 109. Tul he soget him to þe biddingis of þe apostil.
1500–20. Dunbar, Poems, lxx. 20. Thy vengeance seiss on us to syn subjectit.
1568. Lauder, Godlie Tractate, 341. Least tha alwayis with Sin suld be subieckit.
a. 1590. in Montgomery’s Poems, Suppl. (S.T.S.), 109. Þai sleichtis sell neuir subgek me.
1605. Play of Stucley, in Simpson, Sch. Shaks. (1878), I. 227. I will not subject my desire herein And wait upon his leisure.
1614. Raleigh, Hist. World, II. 217. Altogether feminine, and subiected to ease and delicacie.
1643. Burroughes, Exp. 1st 3 ch. Hosea, ii. 39. If he subject that to his own base ends.
1654. Bramhall, Just Vind., ii. 9. They have subjected Oecumenical Councels … to the Jurisdiction of the Papal Court.
1734. trans. Rollin’s Anc. Hist. (1827), I. Pref. 51. In order the better to subject the minds of the people.
1744. Swift, Three Serm., i. 10. This Doctrine of subjecting ourselves to one another.
1827. Scott, Surg. Dau., i. He … was unwilling to subject himself to that which was exacted in polite society.
absol. 1667. Milton, P. L., VIII. 607. Yet these subject not.
1692. Dryden, St. Euremont’s Ess., 342. [Religion] compells and doth not subject enough.
† b. To overawe, prevail upon. Obs. rare.
1605. Play of Stucley, in Simpson, Sch. Shaks. (1878), I. 214. To be threatened and subjected by him.
1670. Walton, Lives, I. 29. Sir Robert put on as suddain a resolution, to subject Mr. Donne to be his Companion in that Iourney.
† c. To master, overpower (one’s desires). Obs.
1620. Venner, Via Recta, vii. 114. Such as respect their health, and can subiect their appetite.
1660. R. Coke, Justice Vind., 15. Subjecting all their passions and affections.
† 3. intr. To be or become subject, submit to. Obs.
c. 1400. Apol. Loll., 76. New law techiþ þat no prest nor clerk ow to soget to no seculer lord.
1624. Bedell, Lett., v. 90. Shee kils with the spirituall sword, those that subiect not to her.
1644. Hunton, Vind. Treat. Mon., iv. 20. He is unresistible, and to be subjected to actively in lawfull things.
1720. Wodrow, Corr. (1843), II. 477. His Majesty’s government, which they most heartily pray for, and subject to in all things they possibly can.
† 4. trans. To place under something or in a lower position; to make subjacent to. Chiefly pass. Obs.
1578. Banister, Hist. Man, V. 69. The rest of his way is subiected vnder Vena caua.
1594. R. Carew, Huarte’s Exam. Wits (1616), 116. Spaine is not so cold as the places subiected to the Pole.
a. 1676. Hale, Prim. Orig. Man., II. vii. (1677), 190. The like Volcans … happen sometimes in the Land subjected to the Sea.
1807. J. Barlow, Columb., I. 194. O’er the proud Pyrenees it looks sublime, Subjects the Alps, and levels Europe’s clime.
† b. To place (the neck) under a yoke. Const. to. (Only in fig. context.) Obs.
c. 1585. Faire Em, I. 89. A number such as we subject Their gentle necks unto their stubborn yoke Of drudging labour.
1641. J. Jackson, True Evang. T., II. 120. To subject their necks to the yoak of Christ.
† c. To lay before a person’s eyes. Const. to. Obs.
1715–20. Pope, Ep. Addison, 33. In one short view subjected to our eye Gods, Emp’rors, Heroes, Sages, Beauties, lie.
1776. Trial of Nundocomar, 106/2. It would be highly improper that their books should be … subjected to curious and impertinent eyes.
† d. To lay open, expose (physically). Obs.
1793. Smeaton, Edystone L., § 196. The work will always be dry, or subjected only to the rain.
5. To lay open or expose to the incidence, occurrence or infliction of, render liable to, something. † Also occas. to render susceptible to, predispose to.
1549. Compl. Scot., xx. 171. Euerye thing is subieckit to the proces of the tyme.
1600. Shaks., A. Y. L., II. iii. 36. I rather will subiect me to the malice Of a diuerted blood, and bloudie brother.
1611. Bible, Transl. Pref., ¶ 2. As oft as we do any thing of note or consequence, we subiect our selues to euery ones censure.
a. 1700. Evelyn, Diary, 12 Aug. 1641. It stands upon Contribution land, which subjects the environs to the Spanish incursions.
1701. Swift, Contests Nobles & Comm., Wks. 1755, II. I. 42. One folly, infirmity, or vice, to which a single man is subjected.
1758. J. Dalrymple, Ess. Feudal Property (ed. 2), 91. Clauses, subjecting the whole to forfeiture, in case the prohibition was infringed.
1770. Luckombe, Hist. Printing, 350. Having too much wooll in them … will subject them to soon hardening.
1792. Burke, Corr. (1844), IV. 3. It would only subject the people to a renewal of the former outrages.
1830. D’Israeli, Chas. I., III. 72. A mind thus deeply busied … was necessarily subjected to its peculiar infirmities.
1845. McCulloch, Taxation, I. iv. (1852), 110. Is all that is upon the farm … subjected to taxation?
1861. M. Pattison, Ess. (1889), I. 47. A blow or an abusive expression subjected the offender to a fine.
† 6. pass. To be attributed to, inhere in a subject (SUBJECT sb. 6). Obs.
1606. B. Jonson, Masq., Hymenæi, Wks. (1616), 911. It is a noble and iust aduantage, that the things subiected to vnderstanding haue of those which are obiected to sense.
1649. Jer. Taylor, Gt. Exemp., III. Disc. xiii. § 13. When the relations are subjected in persons religious, and holy.
1659. Pearson, Creed (1816), I. 293. That all the sufferings of our Mediator were subjected in his human nature.
1664. Jer. Taylor, Dissuas. Popery, II. Introd. B 2 b. I hope I. S. does not suppose it [sc. infallibility] subjected in every single Christian man or woman.
1690. Norris, Beatitudes (1694), I. 92. For such and such Vertues as subjected in Man.
7. Logic. To make the subject of a proposition. (Cf. SUBJECTION 11.)
1628. T. Spencer, Logick, 129. How they be predicated, and how subiected.
1725. Watts, Logic, III. ii. § 3. A fourth Figure wherein the middle Term is predicated in the major Proposition, and subjected in the minor.
8. To bring under the operation of an agent, agency or process; to submit to certain treatment; to cause to undergo or experience something.
1794. R. J. Sulivan, View Nat., I. 59. The polar parts being subjected to a colder medium, would be more compressed.
1801. Encycl. Brit., Suppl. II. 357/2. One knows not how to subject to the laws of our perceptions that which is absolutely independent of them.
1838. T. Thomson, Chem. Org. Bodies, 274. The alcohol is then to be separated by subjecting the matter to strong pressure in cloth.
1842. Loudon, Suburban Hort., 94. This branch of garden management … has been subjected to scientific inquiry.
1855. Bain, Senses & Int., III. ii. § 8 (1864), 471. Subject the same persons to an extremely faint exhalation of the same substance.
1870. Max Müller, Sci. Relig. (1873), 125. When people began to subject the principal historical religions to a critical analysis.
1907. J. H. Patterson, Man-Eaters of Tsavo, xix. 208. Just after this caravan had moved on we were subjected to some torrential rain-storms.
Hence Subjecting vbl. sb. and ppl. a.
1760. Woolman, Jrnl., vii. (1840), 83. The Spring of the Ministry was often low; and, through the subjecting Power of Truth, we were kept low with it.
1761. Hume, Hist. Eng., I. ix. 185. The ambition of Henry had … been moved … to attempt the subjecting of Ireland.
1881. Fairbairn, Studies Life Christ, xvi. 302. Few races can bear conquest undepraved; the subject often suffers less than the subjecting people.
1912. H. Newbolt, in Engl. Rev., Jan., 295. Bacon observed, long ago, that while Science is a subjecting of the mind to things, Art is a subjecting of things to the mind.
