Wiktionary
prep.phr. (context of electrical or mechanical appliances English) out of order; malfunctioning; broken.
Wikipedia
On the Fritz is the title of the third release and second full-length album by Christian rock singer-songwriter Steve Taylor. It was released in 1985 on Sparrow Records. Produced by musician Ian McDonald, Taylor arranged and wrote all of the tracks on the album.
After its release, the album peaked at the No. 8 slot on Billboards Top Contemporary Christian album chart.
Usage examples of "on the fritz".
The camera goes on the fritz, accidental on purpose, so the count guys can get the skim out and retally it.
Metcalfe chatted briefly with the American ambassador, who told an anecdote, obviously well honed from countless retellings, about how a toilet at his residence at Spaso House had gone on the fritz and they couldn't get anyone to fix it, and so the ambassador had had his telephone operator call the Deputy Commissar of Foreign Affairs, Andrei Vyshinsky, to say that if the toilet wasn't fixed within one hour, the ambassador was going over to the Commissariat to use Vyshinsky's.
The air-conditioning was on the fritz again, and Hell's computers worked poorly in the resulting heat.
He came onto slippery Clement Road, where the melting grids seemed to be on the fritz, then entered the driveway of the Mu Psi Omega house.
And the environmental must be on the fritz because the temperature was nearly thirty and there was dust in the air and a peculiar smell.
He had hashed it together one evening, piecing out the job with court plaster when his welder went on the fritz.
Ion storms were making the sensors go on the fritz and report screwy things.
McCoy began to wonder if the intercom were on the fritz, too, like the engines and half the other equipment seemed to be these days.
The air-conditioning was on the fritz as usual, and even with the door open, the tiny S.
Here she'd been saving up for a VCR so she could tape shows while she worked, and now the TV was on the fritz.
I must say the room service is hardly up to snuff - God knows it's not the Connaught - and the damned telephone's mostly on the fritz.