Fixed (f&ibreve;kst), a. 1. Securely placed or fastened;
settled; established; firm; imovable;
unalterable.
2. (Chem.) Stable; non- volatile.
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.
Hear it pronounced