fixer

Etymology

It is formed from English fix + -er, an agent noun from the verb.^[2][3][4][5] Fix, recorded from the late 14th century, goes back to Latin fīxus (“fixed, fast, immovable”), the past participle of fīgō (“to fix, fasten, drive in”);^[2][5] the OED leaves open whether the verb was formed in English on the adjective fix or came from Medieval Latin fixō or French fixer.^[2] Etymonline traces the Latin verb to Proto-Indo-European *dheigw- (“to pierce, stick in”).^[5] In drug slang, fixer was formed afresh on the slang verb fix, to take or supply a dose of a narcotic.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

One that fixes: Merriam-Webster dates this general sense to 1601,^[7][8] and the Shorter Oxford to the early 17th century.^[3] The OED's first record is later, from 1849, for a substance used to fix something.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In the mid-19th century a fixer was a substance that made something permanent: a volatile substance, a dye or colour, a drawing, and in photography a solution that fixes the image.^[2][5][9] The OED records it of a person who fixes something from about 1881, in instructions for census clerks,^[2] and Etymonline dates the sense of someone who "makes things right" to 1885.^[5] Green's Dictionary of Slang finds the usual modern sense, a go-between who arranges matters by underhand or illegal means, in American English from 1889, in a reference to "the fixer of elections",^[6] and later of people who fixed things with the police for con men and criminals.^[6] Merriam-Webster Unabridged also records industrial senses, a worker who sets up and adjusts knitting or sewing machines and a mechanic who repairs machinery.^[8] American drug slang used fixer for a drug dealer from 1949, in Nelson Algren's The Man with the Golden Arm, and for someone who injects narcotics from 1971.^[6] The compound fixer-upper is recorded from 1967 for something that repairs other things, in an advertisement for glue, and by 1976 for a house that needs a lot of work.^[5]

Timeline

• 1601 – one that fixes.^[7][8]
• 1849 – a substance used for fixing a colour, drawing or volatile substance, later a photographic fixing solution.^[2][5]
• c. 1881 – a person who fixes something.^[2] Etymonline dates this to 1885.^[5]
• 1889 – a go-between who arranges matters, often illegally, first in American politics.^[6]
• 1949 – a drug dealer, in American slang.^[6]
• 1971 – a person who injects narcotics.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person or thing that fixes, especially one who repairs things.^[9][10][8]
2. A person who arranges matters for others, often by underhand, improper or illegal means, as by influence with officials: The senator's fixer smoothed over the scandal.^{[9][10][8][2]}
3. In photography, a chemical solution that dissolves the unexposed silver halides and makes the image permanent.^[9][10][2]
4. A worker who sets up and adjusts machines, as knitting or sewing machines in a factory.^[8]
5. (slang) A drug dealer.^[6]

Word family

• nitrogen fixer

Related words

• fix
• fixative

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
7. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
10. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt