meet one's Waterloo
verb/ˈmiːt wʌnz ˌwɔːtə(ɹ)ˈluː/UK/ˈmit wʌnz ˌwɔtɚˈluː/US
Etymology
A reference to Napoleon’s defeat by armies of Britain and Prussia at the Battle of Waterloo on 18 June 1815, which marked the end of the Napoleonic Wars. Waterloo is a municipality south of Brussels in what is now the province of Walloon Brabant, Belgium.
Definitions
To be decisively defeated by an encounter with a powerful opponent or a problem that is…
To be decisively defeated by an encounter with a powerful opponent or a problem that is too difficult.
- Now glory the stars and bars, what may not valor do? / Our foe, in Georgia's dread defiles, has met his Waterloo!
- The plan: finally to accept you as a novice. Though even Sister Superior meets her Waterloo in you. A year, then home for good.
The neighborhood
Vish — recursive loop
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sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA