fix

Etymology

From Middle English fixen, borrowed from Old French *fixer (attested only as ficher, fichier; > English fitch), from fixe (“fastened; fixed”), from Latin fīxus (“immovable; steady; stable; fixed”), from fīgere (“to drive in; stick; fasten”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeygʷ- (“to jab; stick; set”). Related to dig.

verb

1. (transitive, obsolete) To pierce; now generally replaced by transfix.
   1. (transitive, by extension) (Of a piercing look) to direct at someone.
      He fixed me with a sickly grin, and said, "I told you it wouldn't work!"
2. (transitive) To attach; to affix; to hold in place or at a particular time.
   1. (transitive, figurative, usually in the passive) To focus or determine (oneself, on a concept); to fixate.
      She's fixed on the idea of becoming a doctor.
   2. (transitive, chess) To prevent enemy pawns from advancing by directly opposing the most advanced one with one of one's own pawns so as to threaten to capture any advancing backward pawns.
3. (transitive) To mend, to repair.
   That heater will start a fire if you don't fix it.
   You can't fix stupid.
4. (transitive, informal) To prepare (food or drink).
   She fixed dinner for the kids.
   She fixed Peter a slice of black bread and jam by cutting the hard crust petalwise around the edge, so the child could tear off convenient pieces. 1945, Marianne Steiff Finton Meisel, Years Before the Flood, page 14
   I fixed us drinks—orange juice with some vodka I'd gotten on sale—and washed a few dishes to get my mind off Jess and the fact of his not texting back. 2013, Iris Smyles, Iris Has Free Time, Berkeley, CA: Counterpoint, page 94
5. (transitive) To make (a contest, vote, or gamble) unfair; to privilege one contestant or a particular group of contestants, usually before the contest begins; to arrange immunity for defendants by tampering with the justice system via bribery or extortion.
   A majority of voters believed the election was fixed in favor of the incumbent.
6. (transitive, US, informal) To surgically render an animal, especially a pet, infertile.
   Rover stopped digging under the fence after we had the vet fix him.
7. (transitive, mathematics, semantics) To map a (point or subset) to itself.
8. (transitive, informal) To take revenge on, to best; to serve justice on an assumed miscreant.
   He got caught breaking into lockers, so a couple of guys fixed him after work.
9. (transitive) To render (a photographic impression) permanent by treating with such applications as will make it insensitive to the action of light.
10. (transitive, chemistry, biology) To convert into a stable or available form.
    Legumes are valued in crop rotation for their ability to fix nitrogen.
    it is well to fix with sodium hyposulphite , and to wash as usual 1878, William de Wiveleslie Abney, A treatise on photography
11. (intransitive) To become fixed; to settle or remain permanently; to cease from wandering; to rest.
    Accuſing ſome malignant Star, Not Britain, for that fateful War, Your kindneſs baniſhes your fear, 1665, Edmund Waller, Upon Her Maiesties New Buildings at Somerset-House
12. (intransitive) 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.
13. (slang, intransitive) To shoot; to inject a drug.

noun

1. A repair or corrective action.
   That plumber's fix is much better than the first one's.
   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. 2013-06-28, Joris Luyendijk, “Our banks are out of control”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 3, page 21
2. A difficult situation; a quandary or dilemma; a predicament.
   It rained before we repaired the roof, and were we in a fix!
   "How come you're in this fix?" 1932, Delos W. Lovelace, King Kong, published 1965, page 13
3. (slang) A single dose of a narcotic drug, especially when injected.
   Just one fix! 1992, William Alain Jourgensen (lyrics and music), “Just One Fix”, in Psalm 69, performed by Ministry
4. A prearrangement of the outcome of a supposedly competitive process, such as a sporting event, a game, an election, a trial, or a bid.
   As the professional thief notes: You can tell by the way the case is handled in court when the fix is in. 1963, Howard Saul Becker, Outsiders: studies in the sociology of deviance, page 160
5. A determination of location.
   We have a fix on your position.
6. (US) fettlings (mixture used to line a furnace)