on the fritz
Prepositional phrase
  1. (of electrical or mechanical appliances) Out of order; malfunctioning; broken.
    I'd record it, but my tape deck is on the fritz again.
    My washing machine has gone on the fritz, and I have a load of muddy clothes to clean.
    • 2004, Lisa Marie Rice, Woman On the Run, [http://books.google.com.au/books?id=O3gVLW4pmJQC&pg=PA31&dq=%22on+the+fritz%22+-intitle:%22%22+-inauthor:%22%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=8kPGT8CuE4SsiAf6-cXoAg&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=%22on%20the%20fritz%22%20-intitle%3A%22%22%20-inauthor%3A%22%22&f=false page 32],
      No ′40s movie heroine worth the name would have a house that let in gusts of gelid air, had a heating system that went on the fritz constantly and leaked.
    • 2006, Nero Blanc, Death on the Diagonal, [http://books.google.com.au/books?id=AkCUE5dyIV4C&q=%22on+the+fritz%22+-intitle:%22%22+-inauthor:%22%22&dq=%22on+the+fritz%22+-intitle:%22%22+-inauthor:%22%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=8kPGT8CuE4SsiAf6-cXoAg&redir_esc=y page 191],
      “Or your cell-phone reception went on the fritz. We know how often that happens.”
    • 2010, Ralph Bowersox, Ralph's True Stories: Entertaining Chronicles of Life in Clarion County, Pennsylvania, Late 1920s through the Present Day, [http://books.google.com.au/books?id=lpzoLWNqxwYC&pg=PA185&dq=%22on+the+fritz%22+-intitle:%22%22+-inauthor:%22%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=8kPGT8CuE4SsiAf6-cXoAg&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=%22on%20the%20fritz%22%20-intitle%3A%22%22%20-inauthor%3A%22%22&f=false page 185],
      Some time ago, a tenant called me and said her refrigerator was on the fritz. I had a spare, so I took it down to her and exchanged it for her old one.
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