a. and sb. Chiefly Sc. Obs. Also 5 -dyt(e, 5–6 -dite, -dict, 6 -det. [ad. L. subditus subject (in med.L. as sb. subject, vassal), pa. pple. of subdĕre to bring under, subdue, f. sub- SUB- 2 b + -dĕre to put. Cf. It. suddito, Sp., Pg. subdito.]
A. adj. Subject. Const. to.
c. 1400. Love, Bonavent. Mirr. (1908), 45. So that he myȝte knowe the noumbre of regiouns, of citees, and of the heuedes longynge to hem that weren subdyte to the Emperour of Rome.
1436. Libel Engl. Policy, in Pol. Poems (Rolls), II. 197. For hym selfe and viij. kynges mo Subdite to hym.
1456. Sir G. Haye, Law Arms (S.T.S.), 180. [It] is nocht wele sittand that a grete lord suld be … subdyt till a symple knycht.
c. 1513. Douglas, Let. Wolsey, in Poet. Wks. (1874), I. p. cvi. He is subdite to the King in France.
B. sb. A subject.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, xvi. (Magdalena), 772. In þat land, til he lefit, [he] duelt, & with his subditis sa vele delt.
1450. in Charters &c. Edin. (1871), 70. Till all and sundry our lieges and subdictis. Ibid. (1507), 191. Oure officiaris, liegis, and subdictis.
1536. Bellenden, Cron. Scot. (1821), I. 186. For administratioun of justice to his subdittis.
1555. W. Watreman, Fardle Facions, I. v. 59. The kinges vsing suche an equitie,… towarde their subdites.
1596. Dalrymple, trans. Leslie’s Hist. Scot., I. 222. Eugenie the thrid … was meruellous element toward his subdites.
