subscription Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a payment for consecutive issues of a newspaper or magazine for a given period of time
  2. noun agreement expressed by (or as if expressed by) signing your name
  3. noun a pledged contribution
  4. noun the act of signing your name; writing your signature (as on a document)
    • the deed was attested by the subscription of his signature

WordNet

Sub*scrip"tion noun
Etymology
L. subscriptio: cf. F. souscription.
Definitions
  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. Obs.
    You owe me no subscription. Shak.
  5. (Pharm.) That part of a prescription which contains the direction to the apothecary.
  6. A method of purchasing items produced periodically in a series, as newspapers or magazines, in which a certain number of the items are delivered as produced, without need for ordering each item individually; also, the purchase thus executed. The right to attend a series of public performances of ballet, opera, or music are also often sold by subscription. The payment for a subscription may be made prior to delivery of any items (common with magazines and performances), or after a certain number of the items have been delivered (common with newspapers or works of art produced in a series).
  7. An application to purchase a certain number of securities to be delivered when they are newly issued.

Webster 1913