Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Liable

Liable (lī"ȧ*b'l) , adjective

[From French lier to bind, Latin ligare. Compare Ally, transitive verb, Ligature.]

1.
Bound or obliged in law or equity; responsible; answerable; as, the surety is liable for the debt of his principal.
2.
Exposed to a certain contingency or casualty, more or less probable; -- with to and an infinitive or noun; as, liable to slip; liable to accident.
Proudly secure, yet liable to fall. — Milton
All human things are subject to decay. — Dryden