SUBJECT, a.

1. Placed or situate under. The eastern tower / Whose hight commands, as subject, all the vale, / To see the fight. – Shak.
2. Being under the power and dominion of another; as, Jamaica is subject to Great Britain. Esau was never subject to Jacob. – Locke.
3. Exposed; liable from extraneous causes; as, a county subject to extreme heat or cold.
4. Liable from inherent causes; prone; disposed. All human things are subject to decay. – Dryden.
5. Being that on which any thing operates, whether intellectual or material; as, the subject-matter of a discourse. – Dryden.
6. Obedient. – Tit. iii. Col. ii.

1. One that owes allegiance to a sovereign, and is governed by his laws. The natives of Great Britain are subjects of the British government. The natives of the United States, and naturalized foreigners, are subjects of the federal government. Men in free governments are subjects as well a citizens; as citizens, they enjoy rights and franchises; a subjects, they are bound to obey the laws. The subject must obey his prince, because God commands it, and human laws require it. – Swift.
2. That on which any mental operation is performed; that which is treated or handled; as, a subject of discussion before the legislature; a subject of negotiation. This subject for heroic song pleas'd me. – Milton. The subject of a proposition is that concerning which any thing is affirmed or denied. – Watts.
3. That on which any physical operation is performed; a subject for dissection or amputation.
4. That in which any thing inheres or exists. Anger is certainly a kind of baseness, as it appears well in the weakness of those subjects in whom it reigns. – Bacon.
5. The person who is treated of; the hero of a piece. Authors of biography are apt to be prejudiced in favor their subject. – Middleton.
6. In grammar, the nominative case to a verb passive.
7. In music, the principal melody or theme of a movement.

1. To bring under the power or dominion of. Alexander subjected a great part of the civilized world to his dominion. Firmness of mind that subjects every gratification of sense to the rule of right reason. – Middleton.
2. To put under or within the power of. In one short view subjected to our eye, / Gods, emperors, heroes, sages, beauties lie. – Pope.
3. To enslave; to make obnoxious. He is the most subjected, the most enslaved, who is so in his understanding. – Locke.
4. To expose; to make liable. Credulity subjects a person to impositions.
5. To submit; to make accountable. God is not bound to subject his ways of operation to the scrutiny of our thoughts. – Locke.
6. To make subservient. Subjected to his service angel wings. – Milton.
7. To cause to undergo; as, to subject a substance to a white heat; to subject it to a rigid test.

1. Placed or situated under; lying below, or in a lower situation.
   
   
   [Obs.] Spenser.
2. That which is placed under the authority, dominion, control, or influence of something else.
3. To bring under control, power, or dominion] to make subject; to subordinate; to subdue.
   
   

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

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

   He is the most subjected, the most (?)nslaved, who is so in his understanding. Locke.

4. Placed under the power of another; specifically (International Law), owing allegiance to a particular sovereign or state; as, Jamaica is subject to Great Britain.
   
   

   Esau was never subject to Jacob. Locke.

5. Specifically: One who is under the authority of a ruler and is governed by his laws; one who owes allegiance to a sovereign or a sovereign state; as, a subject of Queen Victoria; a British subject; a subject of the United States.
   
   

   Was never subject longed to be a king,
   As I do long and wish to be a subject. Shak.

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

   * In international law, the term subject is convertible with citizen.

6. To expose; to make obnoxious or liable; as, credulity subjects a person to impositions.
7. Exposed; liable; prone; disposed; as, a country subject to extreme heat; men subject to temptation.
   
   

   All human things are subject to decay. Dryden.

8. That which is subjected, or submitted to, any physical operation or process; specifically (Anat.), a dead body used for the purpose of dissection.
9. To submit; to make accountable.
   
   

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

10. Obedient; submissive.
    
    

    Put them in mind to be subject to principalities. Titus iii. 1.

    Syn. -- Liable; subordinate; inferior; obnoxious; exposed. See Liable.

11. That which is brought under thought or examination; that which is taken up for discussion, or concerning which anything is said or done.
    
    
    "This subject for heroic song." Milton.

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

    The unhappy subject of these quarrels. Shak.

12. To make subservient.
    
    

    Subjected to his service angel wings. Milton.

13. The person who is treated of; the hero of a piece; the chief character.
    
    

    Writers of particular lives . . . are apt to be prejudiced in favor of their subject. C. Middleton.

14. To cause to undergo; as, to subject a substance to a white heat; to subject a person to a rigid test.
    
    

15. That of which anything 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 anything is affirmed or denied. I. Watts.

16. 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.

17. Hence, that substance or being which is conscious of its own operations; the mind; the thinking agent or principal; the ego. Cf. Object, n., 2.
    
    

    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.

18. The principal theme, or leading thought or phrase, on which a composition or a movement is based.
    
    

    The earliest known form of subject is the ecclesiastical cantus firmus, or plain song. Rockstro.

19. The incident, scene, figure, group, etc., which it is the aim of the artist to represent.