stalemate

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
stalemate/ˈsteɪlmeɪt/

▶noun

• 1 Chess a position counting as a draw, in which a player is not in check but can only move into check.

• 2 a situation in which further progress by opposing parties seems impossible.

▶verb bring to or cause to reach stalemate.

– origin C18: from obs. stale (from Anglo-Norman Fr. estale ‘position’, from estaler ‘be placed’) + mate2.