meet your 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.
See also: meet, Waterloo
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

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.
See also: meet, Waterloo
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed.

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.
See also: meet, Waterloo
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary

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.
See also: meet, Waterloo
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary

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”).
See also: meet
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
See also:
  • meet (one's) Waterloo
  • meet one's Waterloo
  • meet Waterloo
  • Waterloo
  • take the game to
  • the first string
  • fair-weather fan
  • done like (a) dinner
  • done like a dinner
  • done like dinner
References in periodicals archive
READY to meet your Waterloo? The Midlands is hosting the UK Eurovision Fanclub Party at Birmingham Bash 2 at Jury's Inn, Broad Street, on October 6.
Stage Whispers
Just don't be tempted to light up, or you'll meet your Waterloo.
Events: National Science week - Don't miss Mummies' Day
ARE you ready to meet your Waterloo? Sing-a-long-a-Abba pays homage to the Swedish supergroup's greatest hits in a one-night show at the Alexandra Theatre in Birmingham on Sunday.
GO! THEATRE: STAGE WHISPERS
Prepare To Meet Your Waterloo, " said one of the banners yesterday.
CLASS WAR ON KILLING FIELDS; LEADER: PADDY SHENNAN on the action at Altcar - on and off the field