Meaning

noun a situation in golf where an opponent's ball blocks the line between your ball and the hole

noun a thwarting and distressing situation

verb hinder or prevent the progress or accomplishment of

originFrom the meaning in golf (where the stymie ball blocks the other ball from "seeing" the hole), perhaps from Scots stymie, stimie (“person with poor eyesight”), from Scots stime (“the least bit”). Or from Scots styme (“tiny bit, glimmer”) as in se nocht ane styme (“not to see a glimmer (of something)”). If so, it is a doublet of stime.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0