subscriber
(səbˈskraɪbə(r))
[f. subscribe v. + -er1.]
1. a. One who subscribes, or affixes his signature to, a letter or document, articles of religion, etc.
For spec. use in the history of Irish Presbyterianism, cf. non-subscriber 1 (b).
| 1599, 1650 [see non-subscriber 1]. 1651 J. Drew (title) The Northern Subscribers plea vindicated from the exceptions laid against it by the non-subscribing Ministers of Lancashire and Cheshire. c 1688 in Gutch Coll. Cur. I. 338 The Petition being finished, all the subscribers..went over to Whitehall to deliver it to the King. a 1700 Evelyn Diary 16 June 1687, It was reported the subscribers [to an Address] were above 1000. 1717 Wodrow Corr. (1843) II. 335 The subscribers of that choice and invitation of a minister. 1789 Madison in Sparks Corr. Amer. Rev. (1853) IV. 294 The letter was written by the first subscriber of it. 1886 Law Rep. 31 Chanc. Div. 223 A minority of the subscribers of the memorandum of association. 1912 W. B. Selbie Nonconf. ix. 163 When..an attempt was made to obtain the assent of those present to a declaration of belief in the Doctrines of the Trinity and of the Divinity of our Lord, the company at once divided into subscribers and non⁓subscribers. |
b. transf. One who assents.
| 1851 Thackeray Eng. Hum. v. (1853) 222 It was as undoubting subscribers to this moral law, that Fielding wrote and Hogarth painted. |
2. a. One who subscribes to a specified object or institution, the funds of a company, etc., for shares, a book, etc.
| 1697 Dryden æneid Ded. e j b, Some of my Subscribers grew so clamorous, that I cou'd no longer deferr the Publication. 1721 Swift South Sea Wks. 1755 III. ii. 134 Each poor subscriber to the sea sinks down at once. 1727 ― What passed in Lond. Ibid. i. 179 Mr. Whiston held his lecture..to an audience of fourteen worthy citizens, his subscribers and constant hearers. 1776 Adam Smith W.N. v. i. iii. art. i, Provided the subscribers were erected into a new East India company. 1780 T. Mortimer Elem. Comm. 362 The original proprietors, or subscribers to the fund which formed the capital of the Bank of England. 1806 Med. Jrnl. XV. 359 By giving to a one guinea subscriber a privilege equal to that which is enjoyed by a three guinea subscriber. 1854 Poultry Chron. II. Pref., Our principal duty is to thank all our supporters, whether Subscribers, Advertisers, or Contributors. 1856 ‘Stonehenge’ Brit. Rural Sports i. iii. viii. 203 The Draw should be conducted on the following plan: first, the money for each stake should be paid to the secretary by the subscribers. 1873 Curwen Hist. Booksellers 425 In 1842, Mr. Mudie commenced his system of lending out one exchangeable volume to subscribers at the rate of a guinea per annum. 1898 Fraser-Mackintosh Minor Septs Clan Chattan Pref. p. vi, My best acknowledgments are due..to Mr. John Mackay, the publisher, for the really handsome manner in which the book has been issued to subscribers. |
b. transf. A contributor. nonce-use.
| 1773 Goldsm. Stoops to Conq. iv, I was in for a list of blunders, and could not help making you a subscriber. |
c. N.Y. Stock Exch. ‘Formerly, a speculator who, being a nonmember, was allowed on the floor of the Exchange outside of a certain rail’ (Webster 1911).
d. One who pays a regular sum for the hire of a telephone line.
| 1878 (title) List of subscribers (Bell Telephone Co. of N.Y.). 1922 [see dialling tone s.v. dialling vbl. n. 4]. 1934 Haldane & Huxley Animal Biol. xii. 272 The telephone bells of all the subscribers would start ringing. 1978 Broadcast 6 Mar. 10/2 Viewdata is transmitted along normal telephone lines... Identifying the caller, the computer responds with a personalized greeting to the subscriber. |
3. Special Comb.: subscriber trunk dialling, a telephone service by which subscribers can make trunk calls without the assistance of an operator, by dialling the exchange code and the number required; abbrev. STD (see S 4 a).
| [1950 Post Office Electr. Engineers' Jrnl. XLIII. 170/2 If, at some future date, subscriber-to-subscriber trunk dialling is introduced, a national numbering scheme and a translator trunk dialling system may be introduced.] 1952 Prof. Papers Inst. P.O. Electr. Engineers No. 203. 1 Subscriber Trunk Dialling in the United Kingdom... The possibility of extending the range over which subscribers can dial their own calls has received increasing attention by many telephone administrations. 1979 M. Underwood Victim of Circumstance iii. iii. 183 With subscriber trunk dialling and unitemised telephone accounts, it's very difficult to trace calls. |
Hence subˈscribership.
| 1828 Lancet 26 July 539/2, I am now perfectly unconnected with its proprietorship, editorship, contributorship, subscribership, and readership! |