- Fixed stars
- Fixed Fixed (f[i^]kst), a.
1. Securely placed or fastened; settled; established; firm;
imovable; unalterable.
[1913 Webster]
2. (Chem.) Stable; non-volatile. [1913 Webster]
{Fixed air} (Old Chem.), carbonic acid or carbon dioxide; -- so called by Dr. Black because it can be absorbed or fixed by strong bases. See {Carbonic acid}, under {Carbonic}.
{Fixed alkali} (Old Chem.), a non-volatile base, as soda, or potash, in distinction from the volatile alkali ammonia.
{Fixed ammunition} (Mil.), a projectile and powder inclosed together in a case ready for loading.
{Fixed battery} (Mil.), a battery which contains heavy guns and mortars intended to remain stationary; -- distinguished from movable battery.
{Fixed bodies}, those which can not be volatilized or separated by a common menstruum, without great difficulty, as gold, platinum, lime, etc.
{Fixed capital}. See the Note under {Capital}, n., 4.
{Fixed fact}, a well established fact. [Colloq.]
{Fixed light}, one which emits constant beams; -- distinguished from a flashing, revolving, or intermittent light.
{Fixed oils} (Chem.), non-volatile, oily substances, as stearine and olein, which leave a permanent greasy stain, and which can not be distilled unchanged; -- distinguished from volatile or {essential oils}.
{Fixed pivot} (Mil.), the fixed point about which any line of troops wheels.
{Fixed stars} (Astron.), such stars as always retain nearly the same apparent position and distance with respect to each other, thus distinguished from planets and comets. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.
