Link Centre Dictionary

Waterloo

wa·ter·loo

UK/ˌwɔːtəˈluː/ US/ˌwɔtɚˈluː/ uncommon

noun

1.

a final crushing defeat

  • “he met his Waterloo”
2.

the battle on 18 June 1815 in which Napoleon met his final defeat; Prussian and British forces under Blucher and the Duke of Wellington routed the French forces under Napoleon

Synonyms

Origin

From Middle Dutch, composed of water (“water”) + loo (“sacred wood, forest”). More at water, lea. cf. German Loh. Most places in English-speaking countries are named for the battle.

Related words

Broader terms

Parts

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.