Deeper Dive: fix

Fix (fĭks), a. [OE., fr. L. fixus, p. p. of figere to fix; cf. F. fixe.] Fixed; solidified. [Obs.] Chaucer.
Fix , v. t. [imp. & p. p. Fixed (fĭkst); p. pr. & vb. n. Fixing.] [Cf. F. fixer.]
1. To make firm, stable, or fast; to set or place permanently; to fasten immovably; to establish; to implant; to secure; to make definite.
"An asss nole I fixed on his head." Shak.
O, fix thy chair of grace, that all my powers May also fix their reverence. Herbert.
His heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord. Ps. cxii. 7.
And fix far deeper in his head their stings. Milton.
2. To hold steadily; to direct unwaveringly; to fasten, as the eye on an object, the attention on a speaker.
Sat fixed in thought the mighty Stagirite. Pope.
"One eye on death, and one full fixd on heaven." Young.
3. To transfix; to pierce. [Obs.] Sandys.
4. (Photog.) To render (an impression) permanent by treating with such applications as will make it insensible to the action of light. Abney.
5. To put in order; to arrange; to dispose of; to adjust; to set to rights; to set or place in the manner desired or most suitable; hence, to repair; as, to fix the clothes; to fix the furniture of a room. [Colloq. U.S.]
6. (Iron Manuf.) To line the hearth of (a puddling furnace) with fettling.
Syn. -- To arrange; prepare; adjust; place; establish; settle; determine.
Fix , v. i.
1. To become fixed; to settle or remain permanently; to cease from wandering; to rest.
Your kindness banishes your fear, Resolved to fix forever here. Waller.
2. To become firm, so as to resist volatilization; to cease to flow or be fluid; to congeal; to become hard and malleable, as a metallic substance. Bacon.
To fix on, to settle the opinion or resolution about; to determine regarding; as, the contracting parties have fixed on certain leading points.
Fix , n.
1. A position of difficulty or embarassment; predicament; dilemma. [Colloq.]
Is he not living, then? No. is he dead, then? No, nor dead either. Poor Aroar can not live, and can not die, -- so that he is in an almighty fix. De Quincey.
2. (Iron Manuf.) fettling. [U.S.]


-- Webster's unabridged 1913







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