︎snooker clause n. an (undebated) provision or rider covertly attached to legislation, or such legislation itself. Also snooker bill. Etymological Note: From snooker ‘to place in an impossible position; to stymie,’ from tactics used in the billiards-like sport of the same name. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Mark in Bismarck, North Dakota, spent years as a sailor, and wonders about the term sea painter, meaning “a rope attached to a lifeboat.” Why painter? The word may derive from Middle French pendeur meaning “a kind of rope that...
A resident of Michigan’s scenic Beaver Island shares the term, boodling, which the locals use to denote the social activity of leisurely wandering the island, often with cold fermented beverages. There have been various proposed etymologies...