meet one's Waterloo

Cultural  

1. To encounter one's ultimate obstacle and to be defeated by it: “After beating dozens of challengers, the champion finally met his Waterloo.” From the Battle of Waterloo, where Napoleon Bonaparte was finally defeated.

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meet one's Waterloo Idioms  

1. 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.

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Example Sentences

There was a clear, bright gleam in Ethan's eye as he concluded his answer with, "....to meet one's Waterloo means to suffer a crushing defeat."

From "The View From Saturday" by E.L. Konigsburg

They had to answer one more question: What is the origin of the phrase, "to meet one's Waterloo" and what does it mean?

From "The View From Saturday" by E.L. Konigsburg