Definition of "subcategorize"

subcategorize

verb
third-person singular simple present subcategorizes, present participle subcategorizing, simple past and past participle subcategorized
1. (transitive) To categorize more specifically by placing in a subcategory.
2. (grammar) To practice subcategorization.
  Quotations
  As we see from the examples in (55): (55) (a) John will put [NP the car] [PP in the garage] (55) (b) ✽John will put [NP the car] (55) (c) ✽John will put [PP in the garage] (55) (d) ✽John will put the Verb put subcategorizes (i.e. ‘takesʼ) obligatory NP and PP complements (to simplify exposition here, we ignore the fact that the subcategorization properties of put may be predictable from its thematic properties, and from general word-order principles such as the STRICT ADJACENCY CONDITION).
  1988, Andrew Radford, chapter 8, in Transformational grammar: a first course, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, page 421