Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A condition in which something does not work properly.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun US, informal The state of being defective.
  • noun Australia A type of processed meat sausage; devon
  • verb intransitive To go wrong or become defective.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Perhaps from German Fritz, diminutive of the name Friedrich.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Unknown. See on the fritz, which appeared in 1902. Possibly from German name Fritz, or onomatopoeia.

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Examples

  • I flack slim pursuant passer drank me albanian louisville dump, answer is pertain fritz anneal clank chaperon

    Boing Boing: October 17, 2004 - October 23, 2004 Archives 2004

  • But to watch yuppie parents squirm with dread and confusion when anything in their households goes on the fritz is to wonder whether it was such a bad thing for one half of the marriageable population to know how to mend a fallen hem and the other to have rudimentary knowledge of the workings of a fuse box.

    Leaving It to the Professionals 2002

  • But to watch yuppie parents squirm with dread and confusion when anything in their households goes on the fritz is to wonder whether it was such a bad thing for one half of the marriageable population to know how to mend a fallen hem and the other to have rudimentary knowledge of the workings of a fuse box.

    Leaving It to the Professionals 2002

  • Edwards was back in his meteorological office, wearing his field jacket, flak jacket, and "fritz" style helmet.

    Red Storm Rising Clancy, Tom, 1947- 1986

  • It later dawned on me that "fritz" is an ethnic slur against Germans.

    ScienceBlogs Channel : Life Science 2009

  • And it had to go wrong at the worst possible moment, the mics going on the fritz during the big romantic finale of all places, in "Love Lost and Found."

    Archive 2010-06-01 Hal Duncan 2010

  • In addition to the dicey plumbing, the power was frequently on the fritz.

    A Covert Affair Jennet Conant 2011

  • Anybody remember back in '92 or so when it was our own Reed College nuclear reactor on the fritz?

    WhooPPSS! (Jack Bog's Blog) 2009

  • As the building comes closer, the nerves fritz louder, until we are through the big chain-link gates, and walking across the frost-heaved potholed asphalt playground.

    Angry Young Man Chris Lynch 2011

  • "I loved the concept so much I bought another one when the first one went on the fritz," says an Amazon.com review of the Nine Stars DZT-50-9 13.2 gallon sensor can written by Mark Elridge, a 38-year-old computer programmer from Toronto.

    New Breed of Open Sesame Garbage Cans 2011

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