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fixture

[fiks-cher]
See more synonyms for fixture on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. something securely, and usually permanently, attached or appended, as to a house, apartment building, etc.: a light fixture; kitchen fixtures.
  2. a person or thing long established in the same place or position.
  3. Machinery.
    1. any of various devices for holding work in a machine tool, especially one for machining in a straight line, as in a planer or milling machine.
    2. any of various devices for holding parts in certain positions during welding, assembly, etc.
  4. Law. a movable chattel, as a machine or heating plant, that, by reason of annexation to real property and adaptation to continuing use in connection with the realty, is considered a part of the realty.
  5. Fox Hunting. one of a series of meets scheduled by a hunt to take place at a time and location listed on a card (fixture card) that is sent, usually once a month, to each member of a hunt.
  6. the act of fixing.
  7. British. an event that takes place regularly.
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Origin of fixture

1590–1600; variant of obsolete fixure (< Late Latin fixūra; see fix, -ure), with -t- from mixture
Related formsfix·ture·less, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for fixtures

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • There are no fixtures to men, if we appeal to consciousness.

    Essays, First Series

    Ralph Waldo Emerson

  • As a matter of fact, the only fixtures were the cook and second girl.

    Cap'n Dan's Daughter

    Joseph C. Lincoln

  • The amount of leakage is, therefore, in direct proportion to the number of fixtures.

    Rural Hygiene

    Henry N. Ogden

  • Between the soil-pipe and the fixtures a trap must be provided with a water-seal of about an inch.

    Rural Hygiene

    Henry N. Ogden

  • I must say that any mention of fixtures has always bored me intensely.

    Once a Week

    Alan Alexander Milne

British Dictionary definitions for fixtures

fixture

noun
  1. an object firmly fixed in place, esp a household appliance
  2. a person or thing regarded as fixed in a particular place or position
  3. property law an article attached to land and regarded as part of it
  4. a device to secure a workpiece in a machine tool
  5. mainly British
    1. a sports match or social occasion
    2. the date of such an event
  6. rare the act of fixing
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Derived Formsfixtureless, adjective

Word Origin

C17: from Late Latin fixūra a fastening (with -t- by analogy with mixture)
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for fixtures

fixture

n.

1590s, "act of fixing," perhaps from fix (v.) on model of mixture. Meaning "anything fixed or securely fastened" is from 1812.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper