subject

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
subject

▶noun /ˈsʌbdʒɪkt, -dʒɛkt/ 

• 1 a person or thing that is being discussed or dealt with or that gives rise to something.

  ■ Logic the part of a proposition about which a statement is made.

  ■ a person who is the focus of scientific or medical attention or experiment.

• 2 a branch of knowledge studied or taught in a school, college, or university.

• 3 Grammar a noun or noun phrase about which the rest of the clause is predicated.

• 4 a member of a state owing allegiance to its monarch or supreme ruler.

• 5 Music a theme of a fugue or of a piece in sonata form; a leading phrase or motif.

• 6 Philosophy a thinking or feeling entity; the conscious mind or ego.

  ■ the central substance or core of a thing as opposed to its attributes.

▶adjective /ˈsʌbdʒɛkt/ (subject to)

• 1 likely or prone to be affected by (something bad).

• 2 dependent or conditional upon.

• 3 under the control or authority of.

▶adverb /ˈsʌbdʒɛkt/ (subject to) conditionally upon. ▶verb /səbˈdʒɛkt/ (usu. subject someone/thing to)

• 1 cause or force to undergo.

• 2 bring under one's control or jurisdiction, typically by force.

– derivatives
subjection noun,
subjectless adjective.

– origin ME: from OFr. suget, from L. subject-, subicere ‘bring under’.