Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(orig. US) in trouble, in a difficult situation.

1930		D. Ahearn Confessions of a Gunman 243: Crime does not pay because the best you wind up is behind the eight ball.
1931		D. Runyon ‘Broadway Financier’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 201: She [...] winds up back of the fifteen ball.
[1938		W. Winchell ‘On Broadway’ 4 Aug. [synd. col.] The 8-ball look in the eyes of the men seeking jobs along Sixth Avenue in the latter 40s].
c.1943		‘Bill O. Lading’ You Chirped a Chinful!! n.p.: Behind the 8 Ball: Broke.
1946		R.L. Bellem ‘Homicide Surprise’ in Speed Detective Feb. 🌐 First you festoon me with bruises and then you put me behind the eight ball by slamming a cop senseless.
1947		C.S. Montanye ‘Frozen Stiff’ in Popular Detective Mar. 🌐 Well, here we are [...] Right behind the ball numbered eight.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn) 246: up against the eight ball In a bad predicament.
1952		W.R. Burnett Little Men, Big World 72: Here he puts me behind the eightball with you, with the Mover—with everybody.
1964		L. Hughes ‘Dear Doctor Butts’ in Clarke Harlem, USA (1971) 343: And where am I? As usual, behind the eight-ball.
1970		San Diego Sailor 76: I’d certainly jockedyed myself into a sweet position behind the eightball.
1989		J. Morton Lowspeak.
2007		S. Maloney Sucked In 39: I’m a bit behind the eight-ball on the twilight of the Municipals.