DCHP-3

jackpot

DCHP-1 (pre-1967)

Entry from the DCHP-1 (pre-1967)

This entry may contain outdated or offensive information, terms, and examples.

n.

a difficult or embarrassing situation; predicament.

Quotations

1887
I think that the fact of the travellers being commercial men . . . leans toward the theory that what was written of . . . was a jack-pot.
1905
Now I come to think of it he helped me out of quite a jackpot at one time.
1927
And now his rival was in a jack-pot and he had been chosen to pull him out.
1942
jack-pot--a hell of a mess.
1959
Like all Canadian embassies, but more often than most, Canada House receives SOS messages from “distressed Canadians” the official designation for those who get themselves into various jackpots.