Webster's Dictionary, 1913

Search Webster
Word starts with Word or meaning contains
Subscript adjective [ Latin subscriptus , past participle See Subscribe .] Written below or underneath; as, iota subscript . (See under Iota .) Specifically (Math.) , said of marks, figures, or letters (suffixes), written below and usually to the right of other letters to distinguish them; as, a , n , 2, in the symbols X a , A n , Y 2 . See Suffix , noun , 2, and Subindex .

Subscript noun Anything written below. Bentley.

Subscription noun [ Latin subscriptio : confer French souscription .]
1. The act of subscribing.

2. That which is subscribed. Specifically: (a) A paper to which a signature is attached. (b) The signature attached to a paper. (c) Consent or attestation by underwriting the name. (d) Sum subscribed; amount of sums subscribed; as, an individual subscription to a fund.

3. (Eccl.) The acceptance of articles, or other tests tending to promote uniformity; esp. (Ch. of Eng.) , formal assent to the Thirty-nine Articles and the Book of Common Prayer, required before ordination.

4. Submission; obedience. [ Obsolete]

You owe me no subscription .
Shak.

5. (Pharm.) That part of a prescription which contains the direction to the apothecary.

Subscriptive adjective Of or pertaining to a subscription, or signature. "The subscriptive part." Richardson. -- Sub*scrip"tive*ly , adverb

Subsecute transitive verb [ Latin subsecutus , past participle of subsequi . See Subsequent .] To follow closely, or so as to overtake; to pursue. [ Obsolete]

To follow and detain him, if by any possibility he could be subsecuted and overtaken.
E. Hall.

Subsecutive adjective [ Confer French subsécutif .] Following in a train or succession. [ R.]

Subsellium noun ; plural Subsellia . [ Latin ] (Eccl. Arch.) One of the stalls of the lower range where there are two ranges. See Illust. of Stall .

Subsemitone noun (Mus.) The sensible or leading note, or sharp seventh, of any key; subtonic.

Subsensible adjective Deeper than the reach of the senses. "That subsensible world." Tyndall.

Subseptuple adjective Having the ratio of one to seven. Bp. Wilkins.

Subsequence, Subsequency noun The act or state of following; -- opposed to precedence .

Subsequent adjective [ Latin subsequens , -entis , present participle of subsequi to follow, succeed: confer French subséquent . See Sue to follow.]
1. Following in time; coming or being after something else at any time, indefinitely; as, subsequent events; subsequent ages or years; a period long subsequent to the foundation of Rome.

2. Following in order of place; succeeding; as, a subsequent clause in a treaty. "The subsequent words come on before the precedent vanish." Bacon.

Subsequently adverb At a later time; afterwards.

Subserous adjective (Anat.) Situated under a serous membrane.

Subserve transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Subserved ; present participle & verbal noun Subserving .] [ Latin subservire ; sub under + servire to serve. See Serve .] To serve in subordination or instrumentally; to be subservient to; to help forward; to promote.

It is a great credit to know the ways of captivating Nature, and making her subserve our purposes, than to have learned all the intrigues of policy.
Glanvill.

Subserve intransitive verb To be subservient or subordinate; to serve in an inferior capacity.

Not made to rule,
But to subserve where wisdom bears command.
Milton.

Subservience, Subserviency noun The quality or state of being subservient; instrumental fitness or use; hence, willingness to serve another's purposes; in a derogatory sense, servility.

The body wherein appears much fitness, use, and subserviency to infinite functions.
Bentley.

There is a regular subordination and subserviency among all the parts to beneficial ends.
Cheyne.

Subservient adjective [ Latin subserviens , -entis , present participle See Subserve .] Fitted or disposed to subserve; useful in an inferior capacity; serving to promote some end; subordinate; hence, servile, truckling.

Scarce ever reading anything which he did not make subservient in one kind or other.
Bp. Fell.

These ranks of creatures are subservient one to another.
Ray.

Their temporal ambition was wholly subservient to their proselytizing spirit.
Burke.

Subserviently adverb In a subservient manner.

Subsesqui- [ Prefix sub- + sesqui- .] (Chemistry) A prefix (also used adjectively) denoting the combination of constituents (especially electro-negative and electro- positive bodies) in the proportion of two to three ; as, a subsesqui acetate, i. e. , a salt having two equivalents of acetic acid to three of the base.

Subsextuple adjective Having the ratio of one to six; as, a sub sextuple proportion. Bp. Wilkins.

Subside intransitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Subsided ; present participle & verbal noun Subsiding .] [ Latin subsidere ; sub under, below + sidere to sit down, to settle; akin to sedere to sit, English sit . See Sit .]
1. To sink or fall to the bottom; to settle, as lees.

2. To tend downward; to become lower; to descend; to sink. "Heaven's subsiding hill." Dryden.

3. To fall into a state of quiet; to cease to rage; to be calmed; to settle down; to become tranquil; to abate; as, the sea subsides ; the tumults of war will subside ; the fever has subsided . "In cases of danger, pride and envy naturally subside ." C. Middleton.

Syn. -- See Abate .

Subsidence, Subsidency noun [ Latin subsidens , -entis , present participle of subsidere . See Subside .] The act or process of subsiding.

The subdual or subsidence of the more violent passions.
Bp. Warburton.

Subsidiarily adverb In a subsidiary manner; so as to assist.

Subsidiary adjective [ Latin subsidiarius : confer French subsidiaire . See Subsidy .]
1. Furnishing aid; assisting; auxiliary; helping; tributary; especially, aiding in an inferior position or capacity; as, a subsidiary stream.

Chief ruler and principal head everywhere, not suffragant and subsidiary .
Florio.

They constituted a useful subsidiary testimony of another state of existence.
Coleridge.

2. Of or pertaining to a subsidy; constituting a subsidy; being a part of, or of the nature of, a subsidy; as, subsidiary payments to an ally.

George the Second relied on his subsidiary treaties.
Ld. Mahon.

Subsidiary noun ; plural Subsidiaries One who, or that which, contributes aid or additional supplies; an assistant; an auxiliary. Hammond.

Subsidize transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Subsidized ; present participle & verbal noun Subsidizing .] [ From Subsidy .] To furnish with a subsidy; to purchase the assistance of by the payment of a subsidy; to aid or promote, as a private enterprise, with public money; as, to subsidize a steamship line.

He employed the remittances from Spain to subsidize a large body of German mercenaries.
Prescott.

Subsidy noun ; plural Subsidies . [ Latin subsidium the troops stationed in reserve in the third line of battlem reserve, support, help, from subsidere to sit down, lie in wait: confer French subside . See Subside .]
1. Support; aid; coöperation; esp., extraordinary aid in money rendered to the sovereign or to a friendly power.

They advised the king to send speedy aids, and with much alacrity granted a great rate of subsidy .
Bacon.

» Subsidies were taxes, not immediately on on property, but on persons in respect of their reputed estates, after the nominal rate of 4s. the pound for lands, and 2s. 8d. for goods. Blackstone.

2. Specifically: A sum of money paid by one sovereign or nation to another to purchase the coöperation or the neutrality of such sovereign or nation in war.

3. A grant from the government, from a municipal corporation, or the like, to a private person or company to assist the establishment or support of an enterprise deemed advantageous to the public; a subvention; as, a subsidy to the owners of a line of ocean steamships.

Syn. -- Tribute; grant. -- Subsidy , Tribute . A subsidy is voluntary; a tribute is exacted.

Subsign transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Subsigned ; present participle & verbal noun Subsigning .] [ Latin subsignare ; sub under + signare to mark: confer French soussigner . See Sign .] To sign beneath; to subscribe. [ R.] Camden.

Subsignation noun [ Latin subsignatio .] The act of writing the name under something, as for attestation. [ R.] Shelton.

Subsilicate noun A basic silicate.

Subsist intransitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Subsisted ; present participle & verbal noun Subsisting .] [ Latin subsistere to stand still, stay, remain alive; sub under + sistere to stand, to cause to stand, from stare to stand: confer French subsister . See Stand .]
1. To be; to have existence; to inhere.

And makes what happiness we justly call,
Subsist not in the good of one, but all.
Pope.

2. To continue; to retain a certain state.

Firm we subsist , yet possible to swerve.
Milton.

3. To be maintained with food and clothing; to be supported; to live. Milton.

To subsist on other men's charity.
Atterbury.

Subsist transitive verb To support with provisions; to feed; to maintain; as, to subsist one's family.

He laid waste the adjacent country in order to render it more difficult for the enemy to subsist their army.
Robertson.

Subsistence noun [ Confer French subsistance , Latin subsistentia .]
1. Real being; existence.

Not only the things had subsistence , but the very images were of some creatures existing.
Stillingfleet.

2. Inherency; as, the subsistence of qualities in bodies.

3. That which furnishes support to animal life; means of support; provisions, or that which produces provisions; livelihood; as, a meager subsistence .

His viceroy could only propose to himself a comfortable subsistence out of the plunder of his province.
Addison.

4. (Theol.) Same as Hypostasis , 2. Hooker.

Subsistence Department (Mil.) A staff department of the United States army charged, under the supervision of the Chief of Staff, with the purchasing and issuing to the army of such supplies as make up the ration. It also supplies, for authorized sales, certain articles of food and other minor stores. It is commanded by any officer of the rank of brigadier general, called commissary general, and the department is popularly called the Commissary Department .

Subsistency noun Subsistence. [ R.]

Subsistent adjective [ Latin subsistens , present participle See Subsist .]
1. Having real being; as, a subsistent spirit.

2. Inherent; as, qualities subsistent in matter.

Subsizar noun An under sizar; a student of lower rank than a sizar. [ Cambridge Univ. Eng.]

Bid my subsizar carry my hackney to the buttery and give him his bever.
J. Fletcher.

Subsoil noun The bed, or stratum, of earth which lies immediately beneath the surface soil.

Subsoil plow , a plow having a share and standard but no moldboard. It follows in the furrow made by an ordinary plow, and loosens the soil to an additional depth without bringing it to the surface. Knight.

Subsoil transitive verb To turn up the subsoil of.

Subsolary adjective Being under the sun; hence, terrestrial; earthly; mundane. [ R.]

Subspecies noun A group somewhat lessdistinct than speciesusually are, but based on characters more important than those which characterize ordinary varieties; often, a geographical variety or race.

Subsphenoidal adjective (Anat.) Situated under, or on the ventral side of, the body of the sphenoid bone.

Subspherical adjective Nearly spherical; having a figure resembling that of a sphere.

Subspinous adjective (a) (Anat.) Subvertebral. (b) (Medicine) Situated beneath a spinous process, as that of the scapula; as, subspinous dislocation of the humerus.

Substance noun [ French, from Latin substantia , from substare to be under or present, to stand firm; sub under + stare to stand. See Stand .]
1. That which underlies all outward manifestations; substratum; the permanent subject or cause of phenomena, whether material or spiritual; that in which properties inhere; that which is real, in distinction from that which is apparent; the abiding part of any existence, in distinction from any accident; that which constitutes anything what it is; real or existing essence.

These cooks, how they stamp, and strain, and grind,
And turn substance into accident!
Chaucer.

Heroic virtue did his actions guide,
And he the substance , not the appearance, chose.
Dryden.

2. The most important element in any existence; the characteristic and essential components of anything; the main part; essential import; purport.

This edition is the same in substance with the Latin.
Bp. Burnet.

It is insolent in words, in manner; but in substance it is not only insulting, but alarming.
Burke.

3. Body; matter; material of which a thing is made; hence, substantiality; solidity; firmness; as, the substance of which a garment is made; some textile fabrics have little substance .

4. Material possessions; estate; property; resources.

And there wasted his substance with riotous living.
Luke xv. 13.

Thy substance , valued at the highest rate,
Can not amount unto a hundred marks.
Shak.

We are destroying many thousand lives, and exhausting our substance , but not for our own interest.
Swift.

5. (Theol.) Same as Hypostasis , 2.

Substance transitive verb To furnish or endow with substance; to supply property to; to make rich. [ Obsolete]

Substanceless adjective Having no substance; unsubstantial. [ R.] Coleridge.

Substant adjective [ Latin substans , -antis , present participle of substare to be firm.] Substantial; firm. [ R.] "[ The glacier's] substant ice." The Century.

Substantial adjective [ French substantiel , Latin substantialis .]
1. Belonging to substance; actually existing; real; as, substantial life. Milton.

If this atheist would have his chance to be real and substantial agent, he is more stupid than the vulgar.
Bentley.

2. Not seeming or imaginary; not illusive; real; solid; true; veritable.

If happinessbe a substantial good.
Denham.

The substantial ornaments of virtue.
L'Estrange.

3. Corporeal; material; firm. "Most ponderous and substantial things." Shak.

The rainbow [ appears to be] a large substantial arch.
I. Watts.

4. Having good substance; strong; stout; solid; firm; as, substantial cloth; a substantial fence or wall.

5. Possessed of goods or an estate; moderately wealthy; responsible; as, a substantial freeholder. " Substantial yeomen and burghers." Sir W. Scott.

Substantiality noun The quality or state of being substantial; corporiety; materiality.

The soul is a stranger to such gross substantiality .
Glanvill.