| 释义 |
liable, a.|ˈlaɪəb(ə)l|
Also 6–7 lyable, (7 layable).
[Plausibly explained as a. AF. *liable = med.L. *ligābilis that can be bound, f. ligāre, F. lier to bind; but if this be the origin, it is strange that the word is not known in AF. or Law Latin.]
1. Law.
a. Bound or obliged by law or equity, or in accordance with a rule or convention; answerable (for, also const. † to with the same sense); legally subject or amenable to.
1542–3Act 34 & 35 Hen. VIII, c. 4 §4 His landes..and cattalles, shall be charged and lyable to the execucion of the sayde recouery. 1627Crt. & Times Chas. I (1848) I. 208 None were liable to martial law but martial men. 1636Featly Clavis Myst. x. 131 Those that are lyable to your authority and jurisdiction. 1649Langbaine Answ. Univ. Oxford 40 Their having the Custody..of the Gaole,..and their being liable to Escapes. 1651Hobbes Leviath. ii. xxii. 120 Every Member is lyable by himself for the whole [debt]. 1761Descr. S. Carolina 34 The Species of Goods liable to Duties, are Sugar, Rum, Madeira Wine. 1765Blackstone Comm. I. 107 The territory of England is liable to two divisions; the one ecclesiastical, the other civil. Ibid. 470 The freehold was vested in the parson; and,..on his death..would be liable to his debts and incumbrances. 1818Cruise Digest (ed. 2) I. 493 It is some⁓what doubtful whether trusts were originally liable to Crown debts. 1832Lewis Use & Ab. Pol. Terms iii. 26 A sovereign..can never be liable to any legal duties. 1866Crump Banking v. 126 A premature release of a party liable on the bill. 1867C. S. Parker in Quest. for Ref. Parl. 158 Persons liable to income-tax. 1886Sir J. Pearson in Law Rep. 32 Ch. Div. 46 Every one of the partners is liable to the full extent of his fortune for all the debts incurred by the partnership. 1891Law Times Rep. LXIII. 765/1 The defendants were liable as principals, as they had contracted in their own names without any qualification.
b. const. inf.
1637Crt. & Times Chas. I (1848) II. 268 There is a little demur whether an executor is liable to answer damages. 1683Boston Rec. (1881) VII. 160 Candles made up for sale shall..be liable to be weighed and forfeited for want of being full weight. 1688Col. Rec. Pennsylv. I. 219 Wherein Land were made Layable to pay debts. 1765Blackstone Comm. I. 254 It is reasonable that, wherever they transgress it, there they shall be liable to make atonement. 1808Pike Sources Mississ. (1810) iii. App. 45 The property of any officer or soldier, who is killed on the field of battle..is not liable to be taken for debt. 1818Cruise Digest (ed. 2) II. 460 The estate descended is the creditor's, and liable to pay his debts. 1825Act 6 Geo. IV, c. 50 §1 Every man..who shall occupy a house containing not less than fifteen windows, shall be..liable to serve on juries. 1832H. Martineau Ella of Gar. ii. 27 Will our growing rich make us liable to pay what your honour calls real rent?
2. Of land: ? Subject to taxation. † Also said of the tax. ? Obs.
a1626Bacon Max. & Uses Com. Law (1636) 46 The land was not lyable longer than his owne life time. 1647in W. S. Pattee Hist. Old Braintree (Mass.) (1878) 33 His tax shall be still liable as heretofore. 1817J. Bradbury Trav. Amer. 292 No land tax is expected until five years after the purchase, when land becomes liable.
3. a. Exposed or subject to, or likely to suffer from (something prejudicial); in older use with wider sense, † subject to the operation of (any agency), likely to undergo (a change of any kind). Normally const. to; rarely † of, also † for with acc. and inf.
1593Nashe Christ's T. 8 You should not be lyable to so much blame. 1609Holland Amm. Marcell. 157 To shew himself lyable to no fault [L. nulli obnoxium culpæ]. 1627Perrot Tithes 62 He..is lyable to all those curses. 1643J. Burroughes Exp. Hosea ch. 2. iii. 263 She shall be laid open, lyable for all wilde beasts to come in and to devoure her. 1646Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. ii. i. 52 [Crystall] by the art of Chymistry is separable unto the operations whereof it is lyable, with other concretions, as calcination, reverberation, sublimation, distillation. 1662Bk. Com. Prayer Pref., Either of doubtful signification, or otherwise liable to misconstruction. 1667Milton P.L. vi. 397 Not liable to fear or flight or paine. 1668Howe Bless. Righteous (1825) 55 Those [perfections] which are less liable to our apprehension. 1692Bentley Boyle Lect. i. 23 Some..Wretches or..Hypocrites are mostly justly..liable to these horrors of mind. 1711Addison Spect. No. 56 ⁋4 He..found that though they were Objects of his Sight, they were not liable to his Touch. 1712Ibid. No. 421 ⁋5 The Imagination is as liable to Pain as Pleasure. 1752Hume Ess. & Treat. (1777) I. 171 There is one mistake to which they seem liable. 1769Junius Lett. v. 27 Your declaration..is liable to two objections. 1801A. Hamilton Wks. (1886) VII. 213 Reasons..which..are omitted as being more liable to dispute. 1848Dickens Dombey i, Her eyes were liable to a similar affection. 1860Ruskin Mod. Paint. V. vi. ix. 83 At edges of loose cliffs..and in other places liable to disturbance. 1880Geikie Phys. Geog. v. §31. 352 Sea breezes are not liable to the same extremes of temperature as those from the land.
b. Const. inf. Subject to the possibility of (doing or undergoing something undesirable).
1682Creech Lucretius i. 27 All would be liable to die, Subject to powerful Mortality. 1683Penn Wks. (1782) IV. 302 The multitude of trees..being liable to retain mists and vapours. 1736Butler Anal. i. iv. Wks. 1874 I. 79 Human creatures are..continually liable to go wrong voluntarily. [1749Chesterfield Let. 24 Nov., He thought that gentleman was more liable to be thanked and rewarded than censured. You know, I presume, that liable can never be used in a good sense.] 1786Burke W. Hastings Wks. 1842 II. 178 They were..liable to suffer the greatest extremities of penury. 1800Bentham Wks. (1843) X. 352 Difficulties, I am sensible, may be liable to occur. 1858Ruskin Arrows Chace (1880) I. 130 Some colours are..liable to darken in perpetual shade. 1893Liddon, etc. Life Pusey I. xvi. 376 The method, however equitable the intention, is liable to be inequitable in effect. 1896Portfolio June 80 Ground so liable to be overflowed must surely at one time have been a swamp.
c. dial. and U.S. Likely.
1886F. T. Elworthy West Somerset Word-Bk. 433 Speaking of a wounded hen pheasant a farmer said, 'Tis very liable he's a-croped into one o' these here hovers. 1890R. D. Blackmore Kit & Kitty I. ix. 95 Ould dog be put out at zix o'clock riglar, and 'tis liable he'll hurn straight to 'e. 1901Merwin & Webster Calumet ‘K’ xi. 198 He's liable to call our men out to-night, ain't he? 1903N.Y. Even. Post 22 Aug., Norman Hunter's new record..is liable to stand unmolested for many years. 1935H. W. Horwill Dict. Mod. Amer. Usage 189/1 ‘Boston is liable to be the ultimate place for holding the convention.’ ‘If the lawmakers get back before the frosts kill the vegetation, many of them are liable to think it a reproach to the nation that grass should be growing in the streets of the national capital.’ 1957B. & C. Evans Dict. Contemp. Amer. Usage 273/1 An American might say we are liable to be in Chicago next week without meaning that that would be a calamity.
¶4. Inaccurately used for: Incident to. Obs.
1631Denison Heav. Banq. 246 The curse of God is liable to euery one. 1746Eliza Heywood Female Spect. No. 24 (1748) IV. 285 The faults of inadvertency are liable to us all.
†5. Subject or subservient to; attached or belonging to. Obs.
1571Campion Hist. Irel. 26 Other lawyers they haue, liable to certaine families. 1595Shakes. John ii. i. 490 Angiers, and..all that we vpon this side the Sea..Finde liable to our Crowne and Dignitie. Ibid. v. ii. 101. 1596 Edw. III, i. ii. 8 Those are her own, still liable to her. 1602Warner Alb. Eng. ii. lxi. (1612) 268 If sad were she, then sad was he, if merrie, merrie too. His senses liable to all, she did, or did not doe. 1616Bullokar, Liable, subject to, belonging to.
†6. Suitable, apt. Also const. inf. Obs.
1570Q. Councell's Let. 7 Feb. in N. & Q. (1857) 1 Aug., To chewse persons lyable to give good informacion. 1588Shakes. L.L.L. v. i. 97 Pedant. The posterior of the day..is liable, congruent, and measurable for the after-noone. 1595― John iv. ii. 226 Finding thee..Apt, liable to be employ'd in danger. |