Fax Meaning
/fæks/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounThe hair of the head.
nounThe face.
Sentence Examples
Here is our answer to your fax message dated April 1st.
Please send it to me by fax.
Fax machines were a wonderful invention at the time.
CEFR Practice Quiz
Please send the signed contract via ____ to our office before the deadline.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
They sent a copy of the signed contract by ____ so that the office would have it immediately.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English fax, from Old English feax (“hair, head of hair”), from Proto-West Germanic *fahs, from Proto-Germanic *fahsą (“hair, mane”), from Proto-Indo-European *poḱsom (“hair”, literally “that which is combed, shorn, or plucked”), from Proto-Indo-European *peḱ- (“to comb, shear, pluck”). Cognate with Dutch vas (“headhair”), German Fachs (“head-hair”), Norwegian faks (“mane”), Icelandic fax (“mane”), Sanskrit पक्ष्मन् (pákṣman, “eyelash, hair, filament”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"The fillok hyr deformyt fax wald haue a fair face."
— 1710, Gawin Douglas, Virgil's Aeneis, translated into Scottish verse, page 253:
"The details of his [Matthew Perrry's] relationship with Julia Roberts are so 1990s, it is unreal: he wooed her by fax (yes, kids, this was a thing)."
— 2023 October 29, Zoe Williams, “‘An ironic, self-deprecating metrosexual’: how Matthew Perry captured the spirit of the age”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
"Hands trembling with excitement and impatience, I faxxed my credit history to Jerry Raskin, the real estate agent listed, and received an appointment to view the place."
— 1990, Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, volume 14, page 82:
"Plaintiff contented that in a game show in London, England, in January of 1988, Mr. Steinberg entered into an oral agreement with Atari representatives to become the exclusive distributor of Atari Games’ products; that the proposed agreement was dictated at this meeting; and that within two days Mr. Steinberg sent defendant a faxxed confirmation of this oral arrangement reached at the London trade show."
— 1991, Jury Verdicts Weekly, volume 35, page 10:
"SENATOR BAUCUS, IT IS THE THIRD STATEMENT, YOUR CHALLENGE, THAT HAS LED TO THE MOST FRUSTRATION FOR THE PEOPLE I AM REPRESENTING TODAY. WE TOOK YOU AT YOUR WORD AND HAVE RALLIED AND CONVOYED TO MAKE YOU AWARE OF US, TELEPHONED, WRITTEN LETTERS, FAXXED YOU, AND SPOKE WITH YOU PERSONALLY TO LET YOU KNOW HOW WE FEEL."
— 1992, Montana National Forest Management Act of 1991: Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Public Lands, National Parks and Forests of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, United States Senate, One Hundred Second Congress, First Session on S. 1696; October 22, 1991, Washington: United States Government Publishing Office, →ISBN, pages 140–141:
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CEFR Practice Quiz
Please send the signed contract via ____ to our office before the deadline.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
They sent a copy of the signed contract by ____ so that the office would have it immediately.