Green’s Dictionary of Slang

a dilemma, a state of extreme uncertainty.

1563		Foxe Acts and Monuments in Oliphant New Eng. i, 540: The k is prefixed; the old wandrethe (turbatio) becomes quandary [F&H].
1590		Greene Neuer Too Late in Grosart Works (1881–3) 84: Thus in a quandarie, he sate.
1670		J. Ray Proverbs 190: To be in a Quandary.
1748		Smollett Roderick Random (1979) 330: She wondered that any man [...] could, for the sake of a paultry coin, throw persons of honour into such quandries as might endanger their lives.
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: Quandary To be in a quandary: to be puzzled. Also one so over-gorged, as to be doubtful which he should do first, sh—e or spew. Some derive the term quandary from the French phrase qu’en dirai je? what shall I say of it? others from an Italian word signifying a conjuror’s circle.