▪ I. finable, fineable, a.1
(ˈfaɪnəb(ə)l)
[f. fine v. + -able.]
Liable or subject to a fine.
1. Of a person, also of an offence: Liable to be punished by a fine.
| 1485 Act 1 Hen. VII c. 7 The said Offences of Huntings..[shall] be..but Trespass finable. 1592 in Vicary's Anat. (1888) App. xv. 276 All suche aliantes and straungers beinge founde withe a faulte..shall be fyneable. 1647 N. Bacon Disc. Govt. Eng. i. lxix. (1739) 180 Before this Law, this crime was but finable. 1761 Hume Hist. Eng. I. App. i. 100 If any of them..give him assistance they are finable to the king. 1860 Wynter Curios. Civiliz. 503 The Legislature should make it a fineable offence to work a dry stone without a fan. |
2. Of a tenure: Subject to the payment of a fine on renewal. Of a tenant: Liable to pay such a fine. Also of a writ: On which a fine or fee has to be paid.
| c 1600 Norden Spec. Brit., Cornw. (1728) 25 Their tenure is ad voluntatem Domini, and at euery taking finable at the Lordes pleasure and heriotable. 1611 Cotgr., Questable, finable, taxable, as some tenants are at the pleasure of their Lords. 1641 Termes de la Ley 84 b, Some Copyhold is fineable..that which is fineable, the Lord rateth at what fine he pleaseth. 1646 Grant in Ld. Campbell Chancellors (1857) III. lxvii. 308 A grant was made..of all such part of fineable writs..as former Lord Keepers have had. |
Hence ˈfinableness.
| 1727 Bailey vol. II, Finableness, liableness to be fined, or to pay a Fine or Amercement. |
▪ II. finable, a.2
(ˈfaɪnəb(ə)l)
[f. fine v.2 + -able.]
Capable of being clarified, refined, or purified.
| In mod. Dicts. |