fix

verb

1》 attach or position securely.

    ↘(fix on) direct or be directed unwaveringly toward: her gaze fixed on Jess.

2》 decide or settle on.

    ↘establish the exact location of (something) by using radar, visual bearings, or astronomical observation.

    ↘assign or determine (a person's liability or responsibility) for legal purposes.

3》 repair or restore.

4》 make arrangements for.

    ↘(fix someone up) informal provide someone with something.

    ↘informal, chiefly N. Amer. provide with food or drink.

    ↘(be fixing to do something) N. Amer. informal be intending to do something.

5》 make unchanging or constant.

    ↘make (a dye, photographic image, or drawing) permanent.

    ↘Biology preserve or stabilize (a specimen) with a chemical substance.

    ↘(of a plant or microorganism) assimilate (nitrogen or carbon dioxide) by forming a non-gaseous compound.

6》 informal deviously influence the outcome of.

7》 informal take an injection of a narcotic drug.

8》 N. Amer. castrate or spay (an animal).

noun

1》 an act of fixing.

2》 informal a difficult or awkward situation.

3》 informal a solution to a problem, especially one that is hastily devised: there's no quick fix to the recession.

4》 informal a dose of a narcotic drug to which one is addicted.

5》 a position determined by visual or radio bearings or astronomical observations.

Phrases

get a fix on determine the position of.

↘informal determine the nature or facts of.

Derivatives

fixable adjective

fixed adjective

fixedly adverb

fixedness noun

fixer noun

Origin

ME: partly from OFr. fix 'fixed', partly from med. L. fixare 'to fix', both from L. fixus, past participle of figere 'fix, fasten'.