fixture

Etymology

It is an altered form of the obsolete fixure,^[2][3][4][5] borrowed from Late Latin fīxūra (“a fastening”),^[3][2][6] from fīxus (“fixed”),^[3][7] the past participle of fīgō (“to fix”).^[2][4] The t was inserted on the pattern of mixture,^[2][4][7][8] although the analogy is false: the t of mixture belongs to the Latin participle mixtus (“mixed”), from misceō (“to mix”), while the Latin participle of the verb to fix has no t.^[9][10] Etymonline also suggests that it was formed from the verb fix on the model of mixture.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The action of fixing or settling: Shakespeare's Merry Wives of Windsor, "the firm fixture of thy foot",^[5][2] in which the form is first found.^[4] Etymonline dates it to the 1590s,^[9] Merriam-Webster to 1598,^[7] and the OED to before 1616.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The abstract sense, the act of fixing or the state of being fixed, is now rare or obsolete.^[2][5][6] The concrete senses grew from the 18th century: in American use, in the plural, apparatus or appendages (1767);^[2] in law, things attached to a house or land that become part of the property (1758);^[2] a means of fastening (1791);^[2] and, in general, anything securely fixed in place, from 1812 in Coleridge.^[2][9] From 1788, in Fanny Burney's diary, it could also mean a person or thing permanently established in one place.^[2] In sport the word was used from 1825 for an appointed date for a race or meeting, and then for the event itself,^[2] a sense that is now chiefly British.^[6] The sense of an electric light fitting is American.^[7]

Timeline

• 1590s – the action of fixing (Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor).^[9][2][5]
• 1603 – fixure, fixed condition, stability, in Drayton.^[2]
• 1758 – law: things annexed to a house or land.^[2]
• 1767 – American English, in the plural: appendages, apparatus.^[2]
• 1788 – a person or thing permanently established in one place.^[2]
• 1791 – a means of fixing.^[2]
• 1809 – the condition of being fixed, fixity.^[2]
• 1812 – anything securely fastened in position.^[2][9]
• 1825 – a date for a race or other sporting event; the event itself.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. Something fixed firmly in place, especially a household appliance or a piece of plumbing: The kitchen fixtures were included in the price.^[6][7]
2. An electric light fitting mounted permanently in place.^[7]
3. A person or thing that seems permanently established in a particular place or position: The old fiddler was a fixture at the village dances.^[6][2]
4. (law) An article attached to land or a building and regarded as part of the property.^[6][2]
5. A device that holds a workpiece in place in a machine tool.^[6]
6. (chiefly British) A sporting match or social event arranged for a set date, or the date itself.^[6][2]
7. (rare) The act of fixing, or the state of being fixed.^[6][2][7]

Word family

• fixtureless

Related words

• fix
• fixure
• mixture
• fixate
• fixity

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
7. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.