stymie

Meanings

1. A situation where an opponent's ball is directly in the way of one's own ball and the hole, on the putting green (abolished 1952).
2. An obstacle or obstruction.

1. To thwart or stump; to cause to fail or to leave hopelessly puzzled, confused, or stuck.
2. To bring into the position of, or impede by, a stymie.

Etymology

From the meaning in golf (where the stymie ball blocks the other ball from "seeing" the hole), perhaps from Scots stymie, stimie (“person with poor eyesight”), from Scots stime (“the least bit”). Or from Scots styme (“tiny bit, glimmer”) as in se nocht ane styme (“not to see a glimmer (of something)”). If so, it is a doublet of stime.