Meaning

noun (a dated Briticism) a serious difficulty with which one is suddenly faced

originEtymology tree Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁k- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *dʰh₁kyéti Proto-Italic *θakjō Proto-Italic *fakjō Late Latin faciō Proto-Italic *-jēs Late Latin -iēs Late Latin faciēs Late Latin facia Old French facebor. Middle English face English face Proto-Indo-European *-yósder. Proto-Italic *-āzijos Latin -āriusnom. Latin -āriusbor. Proto-Germanic *-ārijaz…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0