Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (also fritz out) to go out of order, to break down; thus fritzed (out/up) adj.

1908		Eve. Star (Wash., DC) 18 Oct. 57/6: Nother thing, now that the [racing] game is all fritzed up [...] why, they’re discplining strong arm-arm rummies of jockeys.
1918		in A. Wallgren AEF in Cartoons (1933) [caption] Suffer’n kats – me glims is fritzed.
1926		J.J. Finerty Criminalese.
1931		‘Und. “Lingo” Brought Up-to-Date’ L.A. Times 8 Nov. K3: FRITZED: Out of business; ruined.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn) 91: fritzed Out of business, ruined.
1969		Time 28 Nov. 18: When the television camera fritzed out on the lunar surface, Astronaut Alan Bean had a moment of atavism.
2004		S.A. Linholm Orbits 40: He was far dumber than Richard and his brains were ‘fritzed-out’, but he was harmless.
2013		T. Robinson Hard Bounce [ebook] A low chewing sound [...] I was afraid the DVD player was starting to fritz.
2021		J. Ellroy Widespread Panic 86: The transceiver fritzed and glitched and broadcast stark static.
2023		(con. 1962) J. Ellroy Enchanters 40: TV’s fritzed out.

2. to put out of order.

1949		F. Brown Dead Ringer 8: Lightning hit some wires and fritzed the generator.
1986		R. Campbell In La-La Land We Trust (1999) 40: Something fritzed the gates. Goddam things closed on the Rolls before it was through [...] Did twenty-two thousand dollars’ worth of damage.
2004		D. Clark Apocalyptic Crawfish 23: Apparently, it fritzed out their radio. In any case, they never reported in.