What does "subject" means in "subject (a place, text, etc.) to a thorough search in order to locate something."

I read the sentence "subject (a place, text, etc.) to a thorough search in order to locate something." from the definition of "scour". I want to know the meaning of "subject" here. Is it a verb in this case? If so, according to the Oxford dictionaries, "subject" means "cause or force someone or something to undergo (a particular experience or form of treatment, typically an unwelcome or unpleasant one)". How does it make sense? Can someone force a text to undergo a thorough search in order to locate something?

One example sentence is "David scoured each newspaper for an article on the murder."

Meaning: David subjected ??? to a thorough search in order to locate an article on the murder in all newspapers.