The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Liability \Li`a*bil"i*ty\ (l[imac]`[.a]*b[i^]l"[i^]*t[y^]), n.;
   pl. Liabilities (-t[i^]z).
   [1913 Webster]
   1. The state of being liable; as, the liability of an
      insurer; liability to accidents; liability to the law.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. That which one is under obligation to pay, or for which
      one is liable. Specifically, in the pl., the sum of one's
      pecuniary obligations; -- opposed to assets.
      [1913 Webster]

   Limited liability. See Limited company, under Limited.
      [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

liability
    n 1: the state of being legally obliged and responsible
    2: an obligation to pay money to another party [syn:
       indebtedness, liability, financial obligation]
    3: the quality of being something that holds you back [ant:
       asset, plus]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

126 Moby Thesaurus words for "liability":
   a thing for, accountability, accountableness, accounts payable,
   accounts receivable, affinity, amenability, amount due,
   answerability, answerableness, aptitude, aptness, arrearage,
   arrears, bad debts, barrier, bent, bias, bill, bills, borrowing,
   burden, cast, chance, charges, chits, conatus, conduciveness,
   damage, debit, debt, dedication to duty, defenselessness, delight,
   detriment, devotion to duty, diathesis, disadvantage, disposition,
   drawback, due, dues, duteousness, dutifulness, eagerness,
   encumbrance, expectation, exposure, fair expectation,
   favorable prospect, feeling for, financial commitment,
   floating debt, funded debt, good chance, handicap, harm,
   helplessness, hindrance, hitch, hurt, impairment, impediment,
   inclination, incumbency, indebtedness, indebtment, injury, leaning,
   likelihood, likeliness, liking, loss, loss of ground, maturity,
   mischief, nakedness, national debt, nonimmunity, obligation,
   obstacle, obstruction, odds, onus, openness, outlook,
   outstanding debt, penchant, pledge, predilection, predisposition,
   prejudice, presumption, presumptive evidence, probabilism,
   probability, proclivity, proneness, propensity, prospect,
   public debt, readiness, reasonable ground, reasonable hope,
   responsibility, responsibleness, score, sense of duty,
   sense of obligation, sensitivity to, snag, soft spot,
   step backward, susceptibility, tendency, tropism, turn, twist,
   uncollectibles, unfulfilled pledge, verisimilitude, vulnerability,
   warp, weakness, well-grounded hope, willingness



Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

LIABILITY. Responsibility; the state of one who is bound in law and justice
to do something which may be enforced by action. This liability may arise
from contracts either express or implied, or in consequence of torts
committed.
     2. The liabilities of one man are not in general transferred to his
representative's further than to reach the estate in his hands. For example,
an executor is not responsible for the liabilities of his testator further
than the estate of the testator which has come to his hands. See Hamm. on
Part. 169, 170.
     3. The husband is liable for his wife's contracts made dum sola, and
for those made during coverture for necessaries, and for torts committed
either while she was sole or since her marriage with him; but this liability
continues only during the coverture; as to her torts, or even her contracts
made before marriage; for the latter, however, she may be sued as her
executor or administrator, when she assumes that character.
     4. A master is liable for the acts of his servant while in his employ,
performed in the usual course of his business, upon the presumption that
they have been authorized by him; but he is responsible only in a civil
point of view and not criminally, unless the acts have been actually
authorized by him. See Bouv. Inst. Index, h.t.; Driver; Quasi Offence;
Servant.