Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Subscription \Sub*scrip"tion\, n. [L. subscriptio: cf. F.
   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. [Obs.]

            You owe me no subscription.           --Shak.

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

Source : WordNet®

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