liableadj.

1542–3 Act 34 & 35 Hen. VIII c. 4 §4 His landes..and cattalles, shall be charged and lyable to the execucion of the sayde recouery.

1627 J. Mead Let. 24 Nov. in R. F. Williams Birch's Court & Times Charles I (1848) (modernized text) I. 208 None were liable to martial law but martial men.

1636 D. Featley Clavis Mystica x. 131 Those that are lyable to your authority and jurisdiction.

1649 G. Langbaine Answer Vniv. Oxford 40 Their having the Custody..of the Gaole,..and their being liable to Escapes.

1651 T. Hobbes Leviathan ii. xxii. 120 Every Member is lyable by himself for the whole [debt].

1761 Descr. S. Carolina 34 The Species of Goods liable to Duties, are Sugar, Rum, Madeira Wine.

1765 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. I. 107 The territory of England is liable to two divisions; the one ecclesiastical, the other civil.

1765 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. I. 470 The freehold was vested in the parson; and,..on his death..would be liable to his debts and incumbrances.

1818 W. Cruise Digest Laws Eng. Real Prop. (ed. 2) I. 493 It is some~what doubtful whether trusts were originally liable to Crown debts.

1832 G. C. Lewis Remarks Use & Abuse Polit. Terms iii. 26 A sovereign..can never be liable to any legal duties.

1866 A. Crump Pract. Treat. Banking v. 126 A premature release of a party liable on the bill.

1867 C. S. Parker in Quest. for Ref. Parl. 158 Persons liable to income-tax.

1886 Law Rep.: Chancery Div. 32 46 Every one of the partners is liable to the full extent of his fortune for all the debts incurred by the partnership.

1891 Law Times Rep. 63 765/1 The defendants were liable as principals, as they had contracted in their own names without any qualification.

1637 in R. F. Williams Birch's Court & Times Charles I (1848) (modernized text) II. 268 There is a little demur whether an executor is liable to answer damages.

1683 in Rec. Early Hist. Boston (1881) VII. 160 Candles made up for sale shall..be liable to be weighed and forfeited for want of being full weight.

1688 in Colonial Rec. Pennsylvania (1852) I. 219 Wherein Land were made Layable to pay debts.

1765 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. I. 254 It is reasonable that, wherever they transgress it, there they shall be liable to make atonement.

1808 Z. M. Pike Acct. Exped. Sources Mississippi (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.

1818 W. Cruise Digest Laws Eng. Real Prop. (ed. 2) II. 460 The estate descended is the creditor's, and liable to pay his debts.

1825 Act 6 George IV c. 50 §1 Every man..who shall occupy a house containing not less than fifteen windows, shall be..liable to serve on juries.

1832 H. Martineau Ella of Garveloch ii. 27 Will our growing rich make us liable to pay what your honour calls real rent?

1593 T. Nashe Christs Teares 8 You should not be lyable to so much blame.

1609 P. Holland tr. Ammianus Marcellinus Rom. Hist. 157 To shew himself lyable to no fault [L. nulli obnoxium culpæ].

1627 R. Perrot Tithes 62 He..is lyable to all those curses.

1643 J. Burroughes Expos. Prophesie Hosea First Three Chapters 263 She shall be laid open, lyable for all wilde beasts to come in and to devoure her.

1646 Sir T. Browne Pseudodoxia Epidemica 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. View more context for this quotation

1662 Bk. Common Prayer Pref. Either of doubtful signification, or otherwise liable to misconstruction.

1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost vi. 397 Not liable to fear or flight or paine. View more context for this quotation

1668 J. Howe Blessedness of Righteous Disc. (1825) 55 Those [perfections] which are less liable to our apprehension.

1692 R. Bentley Boyle Lect. i. 23 Some..Wretches, or..Hypocrites..are mostly justly..liable to these horrours of mind.

1711 J. Addison Spectator No. 56. ¶4 He..found that though they were Objects of his Sight, they were not liable to his Touch.

1712 J. Addison Spectator No. 421. ⁋5 The Imagination is as liable to Pain as Pleasure.

1752 D. Hume Ess. & Treat. (1777) I. 171 There is one mistake to which they seem liable.

1769 ‘Junius’ Stat Nominis Umbra (1772) I. v. 43 Your declaration..is liable to two objections.

1801 A. Hamilton in N.Y. Evening Post 24 Dec. 2/5 Reasons..which..are omitted as being more liable to dispute.

1846 C. Dickens Dombey & Son (1848) i. 5 Her eyes were liable to a similar affection.

1860 J. Ruskin Mod. Painters V. 83 At edges of loose cliffs..and in other places liable to disturbance.

1880 A. Geikie Elem. Lessons Physical Geogr. (new ed.) v. §31. 352 Sea breezes are not liable to the same extremes of temperature as those from the land.

1682 T. Creech tr. Lucretius De natura rerum i. 27 All would be as liable to die, Subject to powerful Mortality.

1683 W. Penn Wks. (1782) IV. 302 The multitude of trees..being liable to retain mists and vapours.

1736 Bp. J. Butler Analogy of Relig. i. iv. 74 Human Creatures are..continually liable to go wrong voluntarily.

1749 Ld. Chesterfield Let. 24 Nov. (1932) (modernized text) IV. 1444 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.]

1786 E. Burke Articles of Charge against W. Hastings in Wks. (1842) II. 178 They were..liable to suffer the greatest extremities of penury.

1800 J. Bentham Wks. (1843) X. 352 Difficulties, I am sensible, may be liable to occur.

1858 J. Ruskin Arrows of Chace (1880) I. 130 Some colours are..liable to darken in perpetual shade.

1893 H. P. Liddon et al. Life E. B. Pusey I. xvi. 376 The method, however equitable the intention, is liable to be inequitable in effect.

1896 Portfolio June 80 Ground so liable to be overflowed must surely at one time have been a swamp.

1888 F. T. Elworthy W. Somerset Word-bk. (at cited word) Speaking of a wounded hen pheasant a farmer said, 'Tis very liable he's a-croped into one o' these here hovers.

1890 R. 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.

1901 S. Merwin & H. K. Webster Calumet ‘K’ xi. 198 He's liable to call our men out to-night, ain't he?

1903 A. Adams Log of Cowboy vii. 48 These fellows are not liable to need any guns for some time.

1903 N.Y. Evening Post 22 Aug. Norman Hunter's new record..is liable to stand unmolested for many years.

1935 H. 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.’

1957 B. Evans & 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.