fixture
(ˈfɪkstjʊə(r))
[Altered form of fixure, after the analogy of mixture.]
1. a. The action of fixing; the process of fixing or settling, or of becoming fixed or settled. ? Obs.
| 1598 Shakes. Merry W. iii. iii. 67 The firme fixture [so F. 1 and Q. of 1630; the later Ff. have fixure] of thy foote, would giue an excellent motion to thy gate. 1791 Smeaton Edystone L. §277 Employed in fixing and completing the fixture of the iron-work. 1797 Washington Let. Writ. 1892 XIII. 430 We must..yield to the time she requires to prepare for her fixture here. 1817 G. S. Faber Eight Dissert. (1845) II. 202 The ultimate fixture of the sacred floating island appears in the greek legend of Delos. |
b. The condition of being fixed; fixedness, fixity.
| 1809–10 Coleridge Friend (1818) III. 235 It was the Roman instinct to appropriate by conquest and to give fixture by legislation. 1850 L. Hunt Autobiog. II. xv. 167 They [Wordsworth's eyes] were like fires half burning, half smouldering, with a sort of acrid fixture of regard. |
c. concr. A means of fixing or setting fast.
| 1791 Smeaton Edystone L. §223 Two Lewis holes upon the upper surface of each stone, those served as temporary fixtures for the work of the succeeding course. |
2. a. Anything fixed or securely fastened in position; anything made firm, stable, or immobile.
| 1812 Coleridge in Southey Omniana II. 17 Features, which are looks become fixtures. 1831 De Quincey Dr. S. Parr iii. Wks. 1862 V. 139 Even the most absolute fixtures (to use that term) in an English structure, must often be unsettled..in a thoroughly Latin composition. 1841–44 Emerson Ess., Circles Wks. (Bohn) I. 125 There are no fixtures in nature. The universe is fluid and volatile. 1858 Glenny Gard. Every-day Bk. 125/1 The side cloths are in some Tulip-houses fixtures. 1878 Spurgeon Treas. Dav. Ps. civ. 5 The earth..remains as stable as if it were a fixture. |
b. U.S. in
pl. Appendages, apparatus, ‘fixings’.
| 1767 in Archives State New Jersey XX. 547 Tables, chests of drawers, fixtures, &c. 1849 N. Kingsley Diary (1914) 66 Saw a man that had died, and the fixtures and mode of preparation for burial. 1854 Bartlett Mex. Boundary I. ii. 12 The blacksmiths..were employed in making many small fixtures to the wagons. 1874 Coues Field Ornith. i. vi. 41 When travelling your fixtures must ordinarily be limited to a collecting-chest. |
3. Law. In
pl., ‘Things of an accessory character annexed to houses or lands, which become, immediately on annexation, part of the realty itself’ (Wharton
Law Lex.).
| 1758 Gray Let. to Wharton 21 Feb., I am much puzzled about the bishop and his fixtures. 1770 Junius Lett. xxxvi. 179 Tenants, who have had warning to quit..destroy the fixtures. 1861 Kent Comm. (1873) II. xxxv. 345 The right to what are ordinarily called fixtures or articles of a personal nature affixed to the freehold. 1882 E. Robertson in Encycl. Brit. XIV. 274/2 In respect of fixtures..the tenant may sometimes remove them. |
| transf. 1786–89 Bentham Wks. (1843) II. 542 Glebæ ascriptitii, fixtures to the soil on which they are born. |
4. A person or thing permanently confined to or established in a particular place or position.
| 1788 F. Burney Diary 6 Nov., Miss Goldsworthy was a fixture at her side. 1812 Byron Ch. Har. ii. App. D j, All the Franks who are fixtures, and most of the English..etc. of passage, came over..to their opinion. 1818 Hazlitt Eng. Poets v. (1870) 128 His sentiments have very much the air of fixtures. 1821 Ticknor Life, Lett. & Jrnl. (1838) II. ix. 162 Mrs. Grant..from age and its infirmities..is a fixture. 1889 Lowell Lett. (1894) II. 376 We have..an American circus that seems a fixture. |
5. Athletic and
Sporting, rarely
Commercial. An appointment or date for a meet, race, etc.; hence, the meet, race, etc. itself. Also
attrib. fixture-card,
fixture-list. Also
transf. and
fig.| 1825 Sporting Mag. XV. 346 Appointments have been substantiated into fixtures. 1826 ― XVIII. 111 Owthorpe—not the fixture of that name in Nottinghamshire. 1862 ‘Scrutator’ (Horlock) Country Gentleman 146 Our next fixture is made already for Frampton Wood. 1869 Times 26 Feb. 10/2 Fixtures of the principal..yachting clubs. 1882 Daily News 4 Mar., Bristol Wool Fair and the opening of the Colonial sales in London. These important ‘fixtures’ had been looked forward to. 1886 Cycl. Tour. Club Gaz. May 173/1 A neat fixture card from the Dublin..Club. 1890 E. Dowson Let. 11 Feb. (1967) 136, I hope to have it complete for your criticism when you come here on Thursday. For you will come—must come... Let me have a card to-morrow to acquaint me if it is a fixture. 1905 Strand Mag. Sept. 298/1 We always take it last on our fixture-list. 1914 C. Mackenzie Sinister St. II. iii. vii. 638 A gilt mirror..stuck round with the fixture cards of the university and the college. 1923 [see bet n. 1]. 1946 M. C. Self Horseman's Encycl. 453 The ‘fixture card’ is sent to all members of a hunt and tells them what coverts are to be drawn on what days. 1955 Times 5 Aug. 4/5 Although their fixture list includes as many as 13 schools, they have not been beaten by another school since July, 1953. 1964 C. Willock Enormous Zoo ix. 161 The annual fixture in which one tribe comes over to steal its neighbours' cows, the return match being played for the attackers' women. |