in a pickle

Etymology:

• The origin of the phrase in a pickle seems to stem from two different places. First, there is the sixteenth century Dutch phrase in de pekel zitten which literally translates as sitting in the pickle, meaning to be drunk. Second, there is the Shakespeare play The Tempest, in which Alonso asks “How camest thou in this pickle?” and Trinculo answers “I have been in such a pickle since I saw you last that, I fear me, will never out of my bones…” In this case the phrase in a pickle also refers to being drunk, in time it came to mean to be in a difficult situation or in a quandry. grammarist.com