Queer The Pitch
Meaning
Interfere with or spoil the business of a tradesman or showman.
Origin
Travelling showmen call the place they set out their stall a ‘pitch’. ‘Queer’ has been used as a verb meaning ‘to spoil’ since the early 19th century. Putting those two together we get the meaning of this little phrase. It was first recorded, in the vernacular speech of 19th century London, in The Swell’s Night Guide, 1846:
“Nanty coming it on a pall, or wid cracking to queer a pitch.”
