in a pickle

The term refers to being in pickling solution, presumably unpleasant. It was first used in English by William Shakespeare in The Tempest (1611), although the phrase had been used in Dutch earlier.

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in a pickle

1. (informal, idiomatic) In a difficult situation or a troubling quandary.
   • 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i], page 18, column 2:

     How cam'ſt thou in this pickle? / Tri. I haue bin in ſuch a pickle ſince I ſaw you laſt, / That I feare me will neuer out of my bones:

   • 2021 September 1, Taylor Lorenz, “She’s the Investor Guru for Online Creators”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN:

     Cody Ko, a YouTube star with 5.7 million subscribers, found himself in a pickle in May.

• in a fix
• troubled

• Gary Martin (1997–) “In a pickle”, in The Phrase Finder, retrieved 26 February 2017.

• paniclike