But it does use the word "fix" in the sense of "fasten upon, stop moving, make immobile" like a "fixed point" and not in the sense of "repair" or "make breakfast",
And does so in relation to "gaze" in the same sentence. How much more do you need - the rest seems nit-picking. Sentences aren't all fixed forms, they are creative combinations of words. (and as has been established, this form is not actually unique)
If you don't want to engage with the piece, then maybe it's not for you. Not everything is written for everyone, and it's useless to complain about that.
A dictionary doesn’t capture the entire language. In this thread there are native speakers saying that this is a well formed, meaningful English sentence. Therefore it is.
Sure, you and the other guy, claiming London in his bio (we don't know if he's a native speaker or not).
It might be a regional dialect, which is also a form of broken English, especially if it is very obscure and other English speakers can't even guess the meaning of the idiom out of context.
a) it isn't - it might be archaic and poetic, but I don't view it as "regional"
> a regional dialect is also a form of broken English
Wrong! That's not how it works.
As the sibling comment says, what do you want? To understand the piece, improve your vocabulary or to tell the writer that they're Englishing wrong because "The Critic - Britain's Most Civilised Magazine", is using a turn of phrase that's not well known in your neck 'o the woods? I doubt that they care about that.
If you're trying to understand the original article I think you have enough information.
If you want to expand your understanding of English then you have some leads to follow and an opportunity to learn. If you don't believe them that's your choice, but it's not evidence to the contrary.
If you're trying to gate-keep and prescribe someone else's language, then you should at least respect if others don't want to join your argument.
(EDIT - Here's a past exam paper published by Cambridge that references such a phrase on page 16