Mexican standoff

Meanings

1. A stalemate, or a confrontation among two or more sides that no side can win.
2. An inconclusive standoff, ending in mutual retreat.
3. A confrontation among two or more armed parties, none of which wants to attack first (fearing that the other could retaliate), but neither of which will disarm (for fear the other will attack).
4. A three-way or more standoff.
5. A pot that is split among the players because of a tie.
6. A near-collision between two trains; an averted cornfield meet.

Etymology

First use appears c. 1876 in the US. Three-way gun standoffs, popularized in spaghetti westerns such as The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (1966), have come to be called Mexican standoffs, though this usage appears to date to the 1990s, notably in reference to Reservoir Dogs (1992); earlier usage refers to this as a three-way standoff or triangular standoff.