meet Waterloo
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. © 2022 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, 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