Толковый словарь английского языка Oxford English Reference - stymie

n. & v. (also stimy) --n. (pl. -ies) 1 Golf a situation where an opponent's ball lies between the player and the hole, forming a possible obstruction to play (lay a stymie). 2 a difficult situation. --v.tr. (stymies, stymied, stymying or stymieing) 1 obstruct; thwart. 2 Golf block (an opponent, his ball, or oneself) with a stymie. Etymology: 19th c.: orig. unkn.