See Also: Liable(medicine)
Liable(money)
liable(dictionary)
liable(dictionary)

liable (iou)



liable pred. adjective. LME.
[Perh. from Anglo-Norman, from Old & mod. French lier bind (see LIAISON), but late and not in Anglo-Norman or Anglo-Latin records.]
Law. Bound or obliged by law or equity; answerable at law (for, to); subject to a tax, penalty, etc.; bound in law to do. LME.
F. Donaldson If I spend more than six months in this country I'm liable to pay income tax. Woman & Home All drug companies will become strictly liable for injuries caused by their products. Which? Goods brought in from a non-EC country are liable to import duty.
b. Of land: subject to taxation. Now rare or obsolete. E17.
a. Susceptible, exposed, or open to (something undesirable). Formerly also gen., subject to (any influence or change). L16.
Addison He..found that though they were Objects of his Sight, they were not liable to his Touch. A. Storr Although everyone, in varying degree, is liable to depression..some persons are peculiarly susceptible.
b. Apt or likely to do (exc. dial. & N. Amer. chiefly something undesirable), to be ed. L17.
Farmer & Stockbreeder Salesmanship..is liable to be overrated. W. Wharton Without his glasses, he's liable to smash into a tree.
Subject or subservient to; attached or belonging to. L16-E17.
Suitable, apt, (to do). Only in L16.
Shakespeare King John Finding thee..Apt, liable to be employ'd in danger.
Incident to. M17-M18.
E. Haywood The faults of inadvertency are liable to us all.
liableness noun (now rare) M17.