Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (drugs) an injection of a narcotic which ‘fixes one up’ when one is ‘sick’; the usual presumption being that the drug is heroin.

1938		D. Maurer ‘Lang. of the Und. Narcotic Addict’ Pt 2 in Lang. Und. (1981) 102/1: fix. Var. of fix-up. A ration of narcotics, especially one to be injected.
1946		H. Huncke ‘Bryant Park’ in Huncke Reader (1998) 309: I want a fix because it helps me believe in life again.
1951		San Diego Eve. Trib. 28 June A1/4 in Lannoy & Masterson ‘Teen-age Hophead Jargon’ AS XXVII:1 25: I went across the border for a fix of heroin.
1961		T. Taylor Baron’s Court All Change (2011) 97: ‘They get me so mad that I offer to sell them a fix’.
1963		‘Geoffrey Tolhurst’ Flat 4 King’s Cross (1966) 112: Johnny was a mainliner. He injected the drug directly into his vein, and that was the end of the road for an addict. There was nowhere to go after that but to take stronger and more frequent ‘fixes’.
1963		M. Braly Shake Him Till He Rattles (1964) 61: At least four good fixes, he calculated, and raised the powder to his tongue to see how deeply it had been cut.
1968		A. Burgess Enderby Outside in Complete Enderby (2002) 327: here was a new man there, a Scot apparently, for he talked of ‘a wee bit fixie’.
1970		T. Southern Blue Movie (1974) 188: I give enough fixes in the Army I could be a first-class dope pusher awready!
1985		S. Berkoff West in Decadence and Other Plays (1985) 99: Drug-crazed hippie dying for a fix.
1995		B. James Detective is Dead (1996) 112: What ‘decent trading atmosphere’ could you have selling fixes to the hooked?
1999		D. Looser ‘Boob Jargon’ in NZEJ 13 29: fix n. 2. A shot of drugs.
2001		D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] : fix n. 1 a shot of drugs.
2005		Urban Dict. 🌐 Everyone in the school except maybe the frosh knows who sells the dime bags or even a quick fix of smack or meth.
2010		K. Richards Life 286: After all that [i.e. withdrawal], after a week of that shit, I need a fix.
2020		D. Winslow ‘Sunset’ in Broken 202: ‘He pr9omised it would be his last fix before he [...] got clean’.

2. (drugs) a small amount of cocaine or heroin, good for a single injection.

1961		‘Lou Rand’ Gay Detective (2003) 111: ‘The same waiter also offered a ‘fix,’’ or a short supply of cocaine.
1971		R.D. Pharr S.R.O. (1998) 72: ‘What’s wrong with the fix you say she bought?’.

3. an ingestion of any drug.

1961		L. Block Diet of Treacle (2008) 43: [of marijuana] A fix lifted him into another mental sphere.
1966		J. Mills Panic in Needle Park (1971) 13: An experienced narcotics cop, or a longtime addict, can with surprising reliability spot a user in a group of twenty people, state with authority what kind of drug he is on, approximately how long it has been since his last fix, and whether or not he is at that moment ‘dirty,’ carrying drugs.
1982		Eble Campus Sl. Spring 2: caffeine fix – coffee, generally, or perhaps tea: I need to get a caffeine fix.
1998		Eble Campus Sl. Apr.
2023		F. Bill Back to the Dirt 44: [of Oxycodone] Shelby watched Wylie create another round of what he called his fix, as he dumped a handful of pills onto a sandblasted plate [...] Crushed them [...] into a chalky powder.

4. (US) a compulsive desire or thrill.

1967		M. Braly On the Yard (2002) 43: This is my fix [...] I lead other people’s lives.
1977		Maclean’s (Toronto) 31 Oct. 20: ‘Is this going to happen every day?’ was a repeated bleat from those deprived of their Monday soap fix.
1999		Indep. Rev. 18 Oct. 14: She developed a habit of getting her fix from the Web.
2015		J. Stahl OG Dad 25: E was addicted to speed, but not the narcotic kind. Her fix was the kind that puts you in danger [...] of brutal violent death on a daily basis.

5. anything that satisfies a craving, e.g. for food.

1970		J. Bouton Ball Four 198: I needed a pitching fix and that I was going out to the bullpen to throw.
1973		L. Shecter On the Pad 300: Gonzales was so desperate for a sex fix.
1989		(con. 1982–6) T. Williams Cocaine Kids (1990) 123: The market was changing from young white buyers from New Jersey to an increasingly sleazy crowd who begged for a hit and needed what had become a cocaine fix.
1991		B. Hamper Rivethead (1992) 99: Anytime I needed a quick fix of cheer, all I had to do was hook up with Dave.
2003		S. Fallon Lonely Planet Budapest 134: [The cafe] won’t win any culinary awards but it’s central and just the ticket should you need a fix of rice or noodles after a concert.
2011		Big Issue (Cape Town) 10 Jan. 8/1: Tattoo aficionados and the tattoo curious can get their ink fix at the third annual Southern Ink Exposure.

6. a hypodermic syringe.

1999		D. Looser ‘Boob Jargon’ in NZEJ 13 29: fix n. 1. A hypodermic syringe.
2001		D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] : fix n. 2 a hypodermic syringe and needle.
2010		K. Richards Life 320: ‘Got the shit, but I ain’t got a fix.’ [...] And there’d be some very pretty chick, total junkie, who’d lend you her needle.

7. (N.Z. prison) the effect of injecting a narcotic.

2001

D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] : fix n. 3 a 'high' caused by taking drugs.