subscribe

present singular third person subscribes · participle present subscribing · participle past subscribed · past subscribed

1. archaic outside lawTo write (one’s name) at the bottom of a document; to sign (one's name).

   [They] subscribed their names under them.

   c. 1510, Thomas More, The Life of Pico della Mirandola

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   […] although the will is holographic, and a holographic instrument cannot be admitted to probate where testator told the subscribing witnesses that it was not his will, […]

   1906, The New York Supplement, page 729

   Commission to take testimony: testimony of subscribing witnesses may be taken by commission […]

   1957, Estates of Incompetent Veterans: Hearings Before the United States House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, page 1968

2. transitiveTo sign; to mark with one's signature as a token of consent or attestation.

   Parties subscribe a covenant or contract; a man subscribes a bond.

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   Officers subscribe their official acts, and secretaries and clerks subscribe copies or records.

   [E]very officer who shall hereafter be appointed, shall, before he enters on the duties of his office, subscribe these rules and regulations.

   1806, US Articles of War

   All the bishops subscribed the sentence.

   1855, Henry Hart Milman, History of Latin Christianity

3. ergativeTo sign up to have copies of a publication, such as a newspaper or a magazine, delivered for a period of time.

   Would you like to subscribe or subscribe a friend to our new magazine, Lexicography Illustrated?

4. To pay for the provision of a service, such as Internet access, a cell phone plan, or a streaming service.

   I subscribed to this streaming service years ago.

5. To believe or agree with a theory or an idea [with to].

   I don’t subscribe to that theory.

6. To pay money to be a member of an organization.
7. intransitiveTo contribute or promise to contribute money to a common fund.

   […] under no circumstances could I ever again be nominated for any public office, as no corporation would subscribe to a campaign fund if I was on the ticket, and that they would subscribe most heavily to beat me;

   1913, Theodore Roosevelt, Autobiography

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   The culprits are old boys of Ardingly College, Sussex, who, in years gone by, wrote their names on the walls of the organ loft, an act which was strictly forbidden. Now they have been invited to subscribe towards the £400 required to make improvements to the organ.

   1952, The Children's Newspaper, volume 1736, London, page 6

8. transitiveTo promise to give, by writing one's name with the amount.

   Each man subscribed ten dollars.

9. businessTo agree to buy shares in a company.

   The capital which had been subscribed to this bank, at two different subscriptions, amounted to one hundred and sixty thousand pounds, of which eighty per cent only was paid up.

   1776, Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations

10. obsoleteTo sign away; to yield; to surrender.

    Admit no other way to save his life , (As I subscribe not that, nor any other, But in the loss of question) […]

    c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals)

11. obsoleteTo yield; to admit to being inferior or in the wrong.
12. obsoletetransitiveTo declare over one's signature; to publish.

    I will subscribe him a coward.

    1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]

13. intransitiveTo indicate interest in the communications made by a person or organization.

    Please like this video, and subscribe to my YouTube channel.

14. intransitivecomputingTo register for notifications about an event or similar.

    If you subscribe to the MouseClick event, your application can react to the user clicking the mouse.