snooker

Etymology

noun

1. A cue sport, popular in the UK and other Commonwealth of Nations countries.
2. (snooker, pool) The situation where the cue ball is in such a position that the player cannot directly hit a legal ball with it.
   She put her opponent in a snooker.

verb

1. (intransitive) To play the game of snooker.
2. (transitive) To fool or bamboozle.
   But to critics like the New York Times's Paul Krugman, Ryan was an obvious con man weaponizing the deficit to hamstring Obama's presidency, weaken the recovery, and snooker Beltway centrists eager to champion a reasonable-seeming Republican. 2018, Ezra Klein, “Paul Ryan's Long Con”, in Vox.com
   Los Angeles would still be a piddling little town in a desert if it weren’t for Sierra snowmelt and city officials crafty enough to snooker eastern California farmers out of their water rights. 2023, Daniel Duane, “It’s August. Californians Are Still Skiing. Don’t Ask.”, in nytimes.com
3. (transitive, snooker, pool) To place the cue ball in such a position that (the opponent) cannot directly hit the required ball with it.
4. (transitive, by extension) To put (someone) in a difficult situation.
   Sam McDougall, Operations Director for NR's East Coast Route, explains: "Until recently, if anything went wrong in the two-track section between Stoke and Doncaster, we were snookered. July 12 2023, Ben Jones, “'Thunderbirds' are go on the ECML...”, in RAIL, number 987, page 34
5. To become or cause to become inebriated.