stymie
noun
No English definition recorded for this entry.
L328676 on Wikidata ↗verb
No English definition recorded for this entry.
L333163 on Wikidata ↗Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈstaɪmi/
noun
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.
- 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).
- An obstacle or obstruction.
“Mary, will you be mine? Shall we go round together? Will you fix up a match with me on the links of life which shall end only when the Grim Reaper lays us both a stymie?”
verb
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.
- To thwart or stump; to cause to fail or to leave hopelessly puzzled, confused, or stuck.
“They had lost the key, and the lock stymied the first three locksmiths they called.”
“If writing dates has you stymied at times, it is probably for one of two reasons. https://www.grammarly.com/blog/how-to-write-dates/”
- To bring into the position of, or impede by, a stymie.