fix-up

[fiks-uhp]

noun

1. repair; improvement.

   fix-ups that will make the house more saleable.

fix up

verb

1. to arrange

   let's fix up a date

2. (often foll by with) to provide

   I'm sure we can fix you up with a room

3. informal,  to repair or rearrange

   to fix up one's house

Word History and Origins

Origin of fix up¹

1825–35, noun use of verb phrase fix up

Idioms and Phrases

Repair, refurbish, or renew. For example, They're busy fixing up their house , or We fixed ourselves up before we ventured outside . [Late 1700s]

fix someone up . Provide or furnish someone with something, as in He can fix you up with a new car , or Can you fix up my friend with a date for the dance? [ Colloquial ; c. 1930]

Smooth over or settle, as in You'd think they could fix up these small differences . [Late 1800s]

Example Sentences

Charles “Collie” Agle, 81, a supporter and participant in naturalist causes who was active in campaigns to clean up the Anacostia River in Washington, organized community fix-up and improvement trips to Honduras for Washington youths, and practiced forest conservation techniques and bird sanctuary policies at a West Virginia farm, died Dec. 22 at a hospital in Washington.

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“After all these kids died — now is the fix-up?”

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She seeks out John, first as a kindred spirit, then as a fix-up project.

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At heart, it’s the story of a fix-up: a double character study — complex, true and unpredictable — about two strangers brought together by a third, who hasn’t even been born yet.

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“We were seated next to each other, I think with that in mind,” he said of the fix-up.

Read more on New York Times

Related Words

• furnish 
• rehabilitate 
• spruce up