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Glite Dictionary
to queer someone's pitch

to queer someone's pitch

9.9
To spoil someone's plans so they cannot succeed
  • phrasal verb
  • Archaic
translation icon : estropear
  • He said you queered his pitch.

Examples

  • A last-minute schedule change queered his plans to launch the new product.

  • His unexpected comments queered the team's strategy for the meeting.

  • The sudden rainstorm really queered her pitch for the outdoor concert.

Synonyms

to queer
vsto queer someone's pitch
  • Archaic
1 9.1

To spoil or ruin a plan

is the idiomatic phrasal way to say make success more difficult
to rain on someone's parade
vsto queer someone's pitch
  • Informal
1 7.4

Make someone less happy or excited by pointing out problems

focuses on disrupting plans rather than mainly criticising mood
to cook someone's goose
vsto queer someone's pitch
  • Informal
8.8

Make someone lose their chance of success

makes things harder but may not end future prospects entirely
to torpedo their chances
vsto queer someone's pitch
7.9

To ruin their chances of success

can mean only making success harder rather than fully destroying chances

Antonyms

to enable
459 2.3

To give someone the ability or chance to do something

assist
33 1.8

Help given to someone to make a task easier

How Disruptive

to ruin
∞ 2.0
to sabotage
164 7.1
to derail
64 4.6
to queer someone's pitch
  • Archaic
9.9
to upset
57 3.0
to hinder
75 3.6

Surface Forms

queer someone's pitch infinitive
queered someone's pitch past
queered someone's pitch past participle
queering someone's pitch present participle
queers someone's pitch third person singular

Morphology

queer + someone's + pitch

The parts provide clear cues: 'queer' (to spoil) + 'someone's pitch' (their presentation/chance) yields a near-direct sense of spoiling another's attempt, so a learner who knows the constituent words can infer the general meaning. However, the verb use of 'queer' is relatively rare and the exact collocational sense of 'pitch' (chance/advantage rather than just 'present') is idiomatic, so the precise usage and nuance may not be fully predictable without exposure.

Etymology

Queer someone's pitch may come from the image of someone spoiling another person's pitch, the place where they set up a stall or play, by making the ground dirty or moving their things. The verb queer means to make something odd or spoil it, so to queer someone's pitch is to 'spoil or disrupt someone's plans'.