DCHP-1 Online
jackpot 
n. a difficult or embarrassing situation; predicament.
- 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.
- 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.