| subject | 1. That which is placed under the authority, dominion, control, or influence of something else. 2. 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. 3. <anatomy> That which is subjected, or submitted to, any physical operation or process; specifically, a dead body used for the purpose of dissection. 4. 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." "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) 5. 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) 6. 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) 7. 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) 8. Hence, that substance or being which is conscious of its own operations; the mind; the thinking agent or principal; the ego. Cf. Object. "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) 9. 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) 10. The incident, scene, figure, group, etc, which it is the aim of the artist to represent. Origin: From L. Subjectus, through an old form of F. Sujet. See Subject. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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| subject headings | Terms or expressions which provide the major means of access by subject to the bibliographic unit. (12 Dec 1998) |
| subjectist | <psychology> One skilled in subjective philosophy; a subjectivist. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| subjective | Pertaining to or perceived only by the affected individual, not perceptible to the senses of another person. Origin: L. Subjectivus (18 Nov 1997) |
| subjective assessment data | Those facts that are observable and measurable by the nurse. (05 Mar 2000) |
| subjective fremitus | Vibration felt within the chest by the patient himself, when humming with the mouth closed; or fremitus felt when there is a rough, pericardial or pleural friction rub, particularly when pain is minimal. (05 Mar 2000) |
| subjective probability | A fair statement of the odds that a rational, well-informed person would give or take for the outcome of an experiment. The experiment may be unique and not rationally understood (precluding both theoretically sound predication and empirical experience). The formulation is applicable to experiments that have been carried out but the outcome unknown. (For instance, a certain statement about the sex of the foetus early in pregnancy is established but perhaps not accessible until amniocentesis can be done.) Unlike personal probably, the subjective probability should be the same from all competent counselors in possession of the same evidence. (05 Mar 2000) |
| subjective psychology | The study of one's own mind and its various modes of action as a basis for psychologic deductions. (05 Mar 2000) |
| subjective sign | A sign that is perceived only by the patient. (05 Mar 2000) |
| subjective symptom | A symptom apparent only to the patient. (05 Mar 2000) |
| subjective synonym | <zoology> Each of two or more different names applied to one and the same taxon based on different types, but regarded as referring to the same taxon by those who hold them to be synonyms. See: Synonym. (09 Jan 1998) |
| subjective vision | Visual impressions that arise centrally and do not originate with ocular stimuli. (05 Mar 2000) |
| subjectivism | <psychology> Any philosophical doctrine which refers all knowledge to, and founds it upon, any subjective states; egoism. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| subjectivist | <psychology> One who holds to subjectivism; an egoist. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |