fix
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: fĭks
ipa: /ˈfɪks/
rhymes: -ɪks
Forms: form: fixes
form: fixe
Etymology: From Middle English fixen, borrowed from Old French *fixer (attested only as ficher, fichier; > English fitch), from fix (“fastened; fixed”), from Latin fīxus (“immovable; steady; stable; fixed”), from fīgō (“to drive in; stick; fasten”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeygʷ- (“to jab; stick; set”). Related to dig.
Senses: examples: text: That plumber's fix is much better than the first one's.
text: Seeing the British establishment struggle with the financial sector is like watching an alcoholic […]. Until 2008 there was denial over what finance had become. […] But the scandals kept coming, […]. A broad section of the political class now recognises the need for change but remains unable to see the necessity of a fundamental overhaul. Instead it offers fixes and patches.
ref: 2013 June 28, Joris Luyendijk, “Our banks are out of control”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 3, page 21:
glosses: A repair or corrective action.
examples: text: It rained before we repaired the roof, and were we in a fix!
text: "How come you're in this fix?"
ref: 1932, Delos W. Lovelace, King Kong, published 1965, page 13:
synonyms: word: ass in a sling
word: bind
word: bucket of syrup
word: calvary
word: cross
word: cross to bear
word: difficulty
word: dilemma
word: dire straits
word: doghouse
word: fix
word: hole
word: jam
word: kettle of fish
word: ordeal
word: pickle
word: pinch
word: plight
word: predicament
word: quandary
word: quagmire
word: situation
word: spot
word: spot of bother
word: sticky situation
word: sticky wicket
word: tight spot
word: trouble
glosses: A difficult situation; a quandary or dilemma; a predicament.
examples: text: And Cash told me of cases where two hips take a fix together and then one pulls out his badge.
ref: 1953, William Lee [pseudonym; William S. Burroughs], Junkie, New York: Ace Books:
text: Maybe I will find in yage what I was looking for in junk and weed and coke. Yage may be the final fix.
ref: 1953, William Lee [pseudonym; William S. Burroughs], Junkie, New York: Ace Books:
text: Just one fix!
ref: 1992, William Alain Jourgensen, “Just One Fix”, in Psalm 69, performed by Ministry:
glosses: A single dose of a narcotic drug, especially when injected.
glosses: A single dose of a narcotic drug, especially when injected.
Something that satisfies a yearning or a craving.
glosses: A single dose of a narcotic drug, especially when injected.
A compulsive desire or thrill.
examples: text: As the professional thief notes: You can tell by the way the case is handled in court when the fix is in.
ref: 1963, Howard Saul Becker, Outsiders: studies in the sociology of deviance, page 160:
glosses: A prearrangement of the outcome of a supposedly competitive process, such as a sporting event, a game, an election, a trial, or a bid.
examples: text: Each character comes to us with her own particular fix on reality, shaped by a lifetime of experience and by the urgencies of the moment.
ref: 1981 December 1, Susan Saxe, “Survival with Agony and Art”, in Gay Community News, volume 12, number 20, page 9:
glosses: An understanding, grasp of something.
examples: text: We have a fix on your position.
glosses: A determination of location.
topics: aeronautics
aerospace
aviation
business
engineering
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
glosses: A non-waypoint terrain feature used to make a determination of location.
glosses: Fettlings (mixture used to line a furnace)
Derived terms: fixless
fix room
get a fix
in a fix
Neptune's Fix
out of fix
postfix
prefix
quick fix
radio fix
Saxbe fix
techno-fix
the fix is in