▪ I. † fax, n.1 Obs.
Forms: α. 1 feax, north. fæx, 1–2 fex, 3–6 fax, (5 faxe, 6 facts, 7 faix, ? 6 pl. fassis). β. 3 væx, vax(e.
[OE. feax = OFris. fax, OS. and OHG. fahs (MHG. vahs), ON. (and mod.Norw.) fax. The word occurs in the proper names Fairfax, Halifax.]
1. The hair of the head.
| Beowulf 2967 Swat ædrum sprong forð under fexe. c 900 Bæda's Hist. ii. xvi, He..hæfde blæc feax. c 1000 Sax. Leechd. I. 110 Wiþ þæt ðæt mannes fex fealle. c 1205 Lay. 24843 [Heo] luken heom bi uaxe [c 1275 þan heere] and laiden heom to grunde. a 1300 Cursor M. 7244 (Cott.) Thoru his fax his force was tint. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints, Martha 7 Scho was far of fax and face. c 1440 Bone Flor. 1545 Then they lowsyd hur feyre faxe, That was yelowe as the waxe. 1513 Douglas æneis ii. vi. 51 His fax and berd was fadit quhar he stuide. 1548 Hall Chron. 10 b, Y⊇ fassis of their head set ful of new devised facuns. 1560 Rolland Crt. Venus i. 915 With countinance and facts virginall. 1606 Holland Sueton. Annot. 30 a, Whose lokes and faix were so slicke and glib with sweet oyles, that they shone againe. [1610 ― Camden's Brit. i. 723 Fax in the old English tongue signifieth the haire of the head.] |
2. derisively. The face.
[Perhaps a misunderstanding of the obsolete word as preserved in poetic phrases; some other Sc. examples in 16th c. would admit of a similar interpretation.]
| 1513 Douglas æneis viii. Prol. 32 The fillok hir deformit fax wald haue a fair face. |
▪ II. fax, n.2 colloq.
(fæks)
[Respelling after colloquial pronunc. of facts, pl. of fact n. 4; cf. Filofax n.]
Facts.
| 1837 Thackeray in Fraser's Mag. XVI. 644 (title) The Yellowplush correspondence. Fashnable fax and polite annygoats. 1945 (title of aviation news-sheet) Plane fax. 1977 Sounds 1 Jan. 20/1 Balanced fax about sniffin' are hard to come by—even Release, the London-based advice/aid centre is short on information. 1987 Evening Standard 6 Mar. 25 (heading) Food fax. |
▪ III. fax, n.2 Comm.
(fæks)
[Abbrev. of facsimile n.]
Facsimile, facsimile telegraphy. Also, a facsimile copy obtained in this way. Freq. attrib.
| 1948 Time 12 Jan. 62/3 The big news about ‘fax’ was that, technically, the bugs were pretty well worked out of it. 1957 Editor & Publisher 13 Apr. 57/1 (heading) Contrast cut from fax pix. 1969 Pop. Electronics Feb. 33/1 The facsimile process (or ‘fax’ as it is called in the trade) has had its ups and downs. 1971 D. M. Costigan Fax p. vii, Probably the most impressive thing about facsimile (fax, for short)..is its enormous potential. 1972 Sci. Amer. Sept. 140/3 Futurists predict that a ‘fax’ terminal in the home or business office may someday supplement or even replace the mail carrier. 1976 New Scientist 30 Sept. 683/1 If the letter is put—by hand—on to a facsimile (‘fax’) machine for transmitting, this is acceptable, too. But it is equally possible for the computer to generate the fax signals electronically. 1980 J. McNeil Spy Game xvii. 179, I want a fax of the passport photo wired from Washington. 1984 Times 21 Feb. 25/1 STC Business Systems has launched a new fax machine equipped with automatic transmissions and stacking systems... It is claimed that it can transmit an A4 page across the world in 15 seconds. 1984 Daily Tel. 28 Nov. 8 (Advt.), NEFAX is UK and European brand leader in fax. |
Hence as v. trans., to transmit (a document, etc.) in facsimile by scanning it and transmitting the resulting signal by wire or radio for use in reproducing the document at the receiving end.
| 1979 Datamation Aug. 75/3 (heading) Who will fax the mail? 1983 Library Assoc. Rec. Nov. 406/1 The BLLD had installed a couple of machines and was prepared to fax requests to any library which had the necessary hardware to receive it, and was prepared to pay. 1984 Sunday Times 11 Mar. 69/1 Stories edited by journalists are sent by facsimile transmission—‘faxed’—across Europe to the printing works. 1986 Bookseller 3 Oct. 1422/2 Titles not in stock are gathered by the central computer and listed by publisher in ISBN sequence before being faxed, telexed or skypacked to the individual publishers. |
(Formerly fax n.2) Add: b. A fax machine.
| 1983 Forbes (N.Y.) 29 Aug. 132/1 Most machines are now manufactured in Japan, even though they have American labels. This has turned the major American fax manufacturers into vendors. 1986 Personal Computing Dec. 162/2 Digital faxes are quite common in businesses, primarily because they use the same protocols and can communicate with each other regardless of manufacturer. 1987 Sunday Mail Mag. (Brisbane) 16 Aug. 8/2 He keeps permanently in touch with his Los Angeles office by portable fax and telex. 1989 Lit. Rev. Aug. 58/1 His Elizabethan forebears had nothing coming between them and their audience but the London air—no Fax or answer machine. |
[f. fax n.3] Add: So faxed ppl. a., sent by facsimile telegraphy; ˈfaxer n., a person who faxes; ˈfaxing vbl. n., the action of the vb.
| 1946 New Republic 9 Sept. 294/1 Although pictures reproduce quite well over home receivers, ‘faxed’ print looks somewhat quavery. 1982 Financial Times 7 Apr. iii. p. vii/1 Faxing systems are a rapidly growing part of business communications and British Telecom is determined to make them easier, simpler and cheaper. 1985 Program XIX. 275 The original photocopy was found to be preferable to the poorer-quality faxed copy. 1988 Newsweek 25 July 54/1 Evans is one happy faxer. |