queer someone's pitch

English

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

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Verb

queer someone's pitch (third-person singular simple present queers someone's pitch, present participle queering someone's pitch, simple past and past participle queered someone's pitch)

1. (chiefly British, idiomatic, dated) To make a task more difficult for someone.
   • 1880, The Era Almanack‎^[1]:

     "Oh, the Mayor's coming, is he?"
     "Yes, but he's very little good. Mayors don't draw as they used; nothing don't draw as it used. The game is pretty well up. What with amateur dramatics, choral unions, and local talent of all sorts, your pitch is queered wherever you go."

   • 2002, Nadine Gordimer, The Pickup, Bloomsbury, published 2001, page 45:

     —no question, global buffeting has queered our pitch for growth in many ways, currency down-down, oil prices up-up—