Waterloo
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meet (one's) Waterloo
To experience a final and resounding defeat. (Napoleon Bonaparte suffered his crushing final defeat at the Battle of Waterloo.) The underdog team met their Waterloo in the championship game and lost to the best team in the league 17–1.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
meet one's Waterloo
Fig. to meet one's final and insurmountable challenge. (Alludes to the final defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo.) The boss is being very hard on Bill. It seems that Bill has finally met his Waterloo. John was more than Sally could handle. She has finally met her Waterloo.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
meet one's Waterloo
Suffer a major defeat, as in Our team's done well this season but is about to meet its Waterloo. This term alludes to Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo, Belgium, in 1815, marking the end of his military domination of Europe. It was being transferred to other kinds of defeat by the mid-1800s.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
meet your Waterloo
If someone meets their Waterloo, they suffer a very severe defeat or failure, especially one which causes them to finally stop doing what they are trying to do. It was in attempting to climb the summit of this mountain that I realized I had met my Waterloo. Note: In 1815, the French leader Napoleon suffered his final defeat at the Battle of Waterloo in Belgium.
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2012
meet your Waterloo
experience a final and decisive defeat.The battle of Waterloo in 1815 marked the final defeat of Napoleon's army by the British and the Prussians.
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
ˌmeet your Waterˈloo
be finally defeated: She can usually beat anyone at chess, but I think with Kathy she’s met her Waterloo.This idiom refers to the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, in which Napoleon was finally defeated and taken prisoner.Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
meet one's Waterloo, to
To experience a major defeat. Alluding to the final defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo in 1815, Wendell Phillips used the term in1859 to describe the defeat of abolitionist John Brown in organizing a slave uprising at Harpers Ferry, Virginia (“Every man meets his Waterloo at last”).
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer