Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Something that fixes, protects, or preserves, especially.
- noun A liquid preservative applied to artwork, such as watercolor paintings or charcoal drawings.
- noun A solution used to preserve and harden fresh tissue for microscopic examination.
- noun A liquid mixed with perfume to prevent rapid evaporation.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Serving to fix, or make fixed or stable: as, a fixative substance or process.
- noun Anything which serves to render fixed or stable, as a mordant with reference to colors; specifically, a weak solution of shellac in alcohol applied to charcoal and crayon drawings with an atomizer to fix them and prevent them from being rubbed.
- noun In perfumery, a substance used to detain from too speedy evaporation a highly volatile ingredient of agreeable odor. The substance so used may itself be inodorous or may contribute to the blended odor of the mixed perfume.
- noun Same as
amboceptor .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun That which serves to set or fix colors or drawings, as a mordant.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A substance that
fixes ,protects , orpreserves . - adjective Serving to
fix orbind .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a compound (such as ethanol or formaldehyde) that fixes tissues and cells for microscopic study
- noun a varnish dissolved in alcohol and sprayed over pictures to prevent smudging
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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Patchouli is what is known as a fixative in perfumery.
Patchouli: From Haute to Not and Back Again Michelle Krell Kydd 2009
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Patchouli is what is known as a fixative in perfumery.
Archive 2009-02-01 Michelle Krell Kydd 2009
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That said, there are certain things that families can do to mitigate the potential downside of vaccinations and one thing is to request of their pediatricians that the MMR vaccination be given without thimersol as the fixative, which is a mercury-based fixative.
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The other fixative that binds this coalition is opposition to war spending.
John Feffer: Take This Job and... Transform It John Feffer 2010
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To prolong the potpourri's scent, use a fixative—a powdered root like orris or angelica, available at herbco.com .
A New Whiff on Potpourri William L. Hamilton 2011
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Broken bottles of paint and fixative gave the air an acrid odor.
Rogue Oracle 2011
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And it ought to be obvious to us that time doesn't act as a fixative, rather as a solvent.
Shuffling Along The Abyss Sam Sacks 2011
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The other fixative that binds this coalition is opposition to war spending.
John Feffer: Take This Job and... Transform It John Feffer 2010
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I sprayed the final piece several times with tole painting matte fixative.
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The fixative can be part of a broader spice blend added to the dried garden ingredients to give the composition another dimension: cinammon, bay salt or dried citrus peel.
A New Whiff on Potpourri William L. Hamilton 2011
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