Waterloon.

Brit.

/ˌwɔːtəˈluː/, U.S.

/ˌwɔdərˈlu/,

/ˌwɑdərˈlu/,

/ˈwɔdərˌlu/,

/ˈwɑdərˌlu/

Forms: also with lower-case initial.

Origin: From a proper name. Etymon: proper name Waterloo.

Etymology: < the name given to the last major battle of the Napoleonic Wars (1803–15), fought outside the village of Waterloo, near Brussels, on 18 June 1815, in which Napoleon was decisively and finally defeated.With the use of the name in Waterloo blue n. at sense 1 and other compounds at branch I., compare:a1854 E. Grant Mem. Highland Lady (1988) I. 35 We were inundated this whole winter [sc. 1815-6] with a deluge of a dull ugly colour called Waterloo bleu, copied from the dye used in Flanders for the calico of which the peasantry make their smock frocks or blouses. Every thing new was Waterloo, not unreasonably, it had been such a victory, such an event, after so many years of exhausting suffering. And as a surname to hats, coats, trowsers, instruments, furniture it was very well—a fair way of trying to perpetuate the return of tranquillity; but to deluge us with that vile indigo, so unbecoming even to the fairest! It was really a punishment.

I. Compounds.

1. Waterloo blue n. now chiefly historical a bright blue colour; cf. sense 9.

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the world > matter > colour > named colours > blue or blueness > blue colouring matter > [noun] > blue pigment > specific

azurec1374

lapis lazulia1425

litmusc1503

verditer1505

florey1527

bice1548

smalt1558

smalts1591

smalt1598

ultramarine1598

litmus blue1612

verditer1665

ultramarine blue (or colour)1686

blue sublimate1700

Prussian blue1724

terre bleue1728

starch blue1742

king's blue1778

verditel1778

Antwerp brown1787

Berlin blue1794

lacmus1794

Antwerp blue1795

French blue1802

lapis1811

Waterloo blue1815

Waterloo1823

cobalt1835

Thénard's blue1837

iron blue1839

turnsole1839

permanent blue1863

opal blue1880

Haarlem blue1885

cyanine blue1886

cerulean blue1889

Victoria blue1890

Milori blue1899

Prussian1911

Windsor blue1912

gentianine1927

Monastral1936

Alcian Blue1947

1815 Brit. Lady's Mag. Nov. 256/1 The most fashionable colours are—cinnamon, brown, Waterloo-blue, and different shades of green.

1858 E. M. Sewell Ursula I. vii. 52 She was..dressed out in a bright blue silk dress,—what is called a Waterloo blue.

1906 M. B. Betham-Edwards Martha Rose, Teacher vi. 65 Well they set off their new stuff dresses of Waterloo blue, turn-down white linen collars and pink neck-ribbons.

2002 J. B. Twitchell Living it Up vi. 197 The early nineteenth century marked the first time a simple machine-made mutation, say, a color like Waterloo blue, became a subject of intense anticipation.

a. Waterloo cracker n. now historical and rare a kind of firework; cf. cracker n. 6a.

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the world > matter > light > firework > [noun] > cracker or squib > Waterloo cracker

Waterloo cracker1817

Waterloo bang-up1826

1817 Morning Post 14 Aug. The inhabitants of the metropolis have a considerable time past been annoyed by the explosion of what are termed Waterloo crackers.

1878 R. L. Stevenson Inland Voy. 72 The child was letting off Waterloo crackers all over the floor.

1999 M. Trevor Rose & Crown iv. 59 The boys came back with the fireworks, waterloo crackers to pull, and ball crackers and squibs to throw.

†b. Waterloo bang-up n. Obsolete = Waterloo cracker n. at sense 2a.

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the world > matter > light > firework > [noun] > cracker or squib > Waterloo cracker

Waterloo cracker1817

Waterloo bang-up1826

1826 in W. Hone Every-day Bk. (1827) II. 1310 His companion cracks a Waterloo bang-up in their faces.

1836 Ann. Reg. 1835 Chron. 123/2 To the bottom of that tube some ‘Waterloo bang-ups’ were attached.

3. Waterloo Cup n. a three-day hare-coursing event held annually at Great Altcar, West Lancashire, from 1836–2005.Hare coursing was made illegal in the United Kingdom in 2005, under the Hunting Act of 2004, and the event was discontinued.

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society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > racing or race > greyhound racing > [noun] > specific race

Waterloo Cup1836

1836 Bell's Life in London 20 Mar. 3/5 Waterloo Cup, eight dogs... Deciding course.—Melanie beat Unicus, and won the Cup.

1939 R. Godden Black Narcissus xx. 182 Call in your mad dog, Clo. Is it the Waterloo Cup you've entered it for?

2006 News of World (Nexis) 8 Jan. The dogs would have competed in the Waterloo Cup which was cancelled after hare coursing was banned in the UK.

†4. Waterloo fly n. Angling Obsolete rare an artificial fly with blue wings.

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the world > food and drink > hunting > fishing > fishing-tackle > means of attracting fish > [noun] > artificial fly > types of

moor flylOE

drake-flya1450

dub-flya1450

dun cut1496

dun fly1496

louper1496

red fly1616

moorish fly1635

palmer1653

palmer fly1653

red hackle1653

red palmer1653

shell-fly1653

orange fly1662

blackfly1669

dun1676

dun hackle1676

hackle1676

mayfly1676

peacock fly1676

thorn-tree fly1676

turkey-fly1676

violet-fly1676

whirling dun1676

badger fly1681

greenfly1686

moorish brown1689

prime dun1696

sandfly1700

grey midge1724

whirling blue1747

dun drake?1758

death drake1766

hackle fly1786

badger1787

blue1787

brown-fly1787

camel-brown1787

spinner1787

midge1799

night-fly1799

thorn-fly1799

turkey1799

withy-fly1799

grayling fly1811

sun fly1820

cock-a-bondy1835

brown moth1837

bunting-lark fly1837

governor1837

water-hen hackle1837

Waterloo fly1837

coachman1839

soldier palmer1839

blue jay1843

red tag1850

canary1855

white-tip1856

spider1857

bumble1859

doctor1860

ibis1863

Jock Scott1866

eagle1867

highlander1867

jay1867

John Scott1867

judge1867

parson1867

priest1867

snow-fly1867

Jack Scott1874

Alexandra1875

silver doctor1875

Alexandra fly1882

grackle1894

grizzly queen1894

heckle-fly1897

Zulu1898

thunder and lightning1910

streamer1919

Devon1924

peacock1950

1837 J. Kirkbride Northern Angler 61 (heading) The Waterloo Fly.

5. Waterloo helmet n. now historical and rare a helmet worn, or as worn, by British troops at the Battle of Waterloo.

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society > armed hostility > military equipment > armour > helmet > [noun] > other types of helmet

kettle-hat1380

salletc1440

knapscall1498

armet1507

bonnet?a1513

morion1547

burgonet1570

heaume1572

Bourguignonne1578

castle1587

casquet1611

cabasset1622

casquetel1796

knapscapa1802

comb-cap1825

tilting-helmet1846

pickelhaube1853

Waterloo helmet1853

bell-shape1869

schapska1894

pudding basin1925

1853 Rep. Commissioners Univ. Dublin VI. 160/2 [List of donors to Dublin University Museum.] William Farren, Esq. Sand eels (Ainmodytes lancea),..a Waterloo helmet, two pieces of wood opal.

1887 Pall Mall Budget 27 Jan. 16/1 The uniform of the old Life Guards includes a Waterloo helmet, with crest and plume at the side.

1959 Irish Times 20 June 10/3 The ‘Peelers’ wore Waterloo helmets..and other appointments worn by the British troops during the Napoleonic wars.

1966 Times 25 June 2/4 (advt.) Big prices for all antique guns, rapiers, Waterloo helmets and armours.

6. Waterloo church n. (a popular name for) any of a number of Anglican churches built in the United Kingdom in the early 19th cent. with money provided under the Church Building Act of 1818 (58 Geo. III, c. 45); more usually called Commissioners' Church.Sometimes applied spec. to the four South London churches built at this time; see quot. 1961.

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society > faith > artefacts > sanctuary or holy place > church or place of worship > [noun] > built with aid of parliamentary grant

Waterloo church1878

1878 W. Angus Purchase in Church 83 As to the churches built from the money granted by Parliament in 1818, most of us have heard of them by the designation of ‘Waterloo churches’.

1961 M. H. Port Six Hundred New Churches ii. 28 The popular misnomer, ‘Waterloo Churches’, became applied to those built with the aid of the first parliamentary grant. [Note] The term is sometimes applied only to the four churches built in the old parish of Lambeth (St John, Waterloo Bridge Road; St Luke, Norwood; St Mark, Kennington; St Matthew, Brixton). This may originate from St John's having been commonly termed..‘Waterloo Church’, which refers, of course, to its site.

2000 Church Times 25 Feb. 14/5 London alone received an additional 38 capacious if architecturally utilitarian ‘Waterloo’ churches by 1828.

7. Waterloo ball n. a party or other entertainment held immediately before a solemn or significant event; an entertainment taking place prior to or in spite of (anticipated) misfortune.With reference to a ball given in Brussels by the Duchess of Richmond on the eve of the Battle of Waterloo.

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society > leisure > social event > type of social event > [noun] > frivolous preceding serious

Waterloo ball1907

1907 Macmillan's Mag. 2 13 Countess Leichtenberg had not postponed her reception, and the night of the 20th might be a sort of Waterloo ball.

1954 P. Toynbee Friends Apart xi. 132 I now see these dances as a succession of Waterloo Balls, a rapturously gay company, rapturously doomed.

1968 Listener 11 July 44/3 Is it a Waterloo Ball we are invited to watch, a permanent party on the eve of great events?

1997 Guardian (Nexis) 19 Apr. 1 Not all the 300 guests..are likely to mourn the passing of this government as long as they did the demise of Mrs Thatcher in 1991. ‘I'm expecting a jolly evening, we're calling it the Waterloo Ball’.

II. Simple uses.

8. A situation, event, etc., which proves the (final) undoing of a person or thing; a decisive defeat or failure, a catastrophe. Chiefly in to meet one's Waterloo.

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society > society and the community > dissent > competition or rivalry > [noun] > a contest or competition > decisive

Waterloo1816

shoot-out1975

the world > action or operation > completing > complete or conclude action [verb (intransitive)] > arrive at a final or decisive point

to bring, come, etc., to the (or an) upshot1604

to meet one's Waterloo1859

1816 Ld. Byron Let. 5 Dec. in T. Moore Life Ld. Byron (1851) 329/1 It [sc. the Armenian alphabet] is..a Waterloo of an Alphabet.

1842 J. Aiton Clerical Econ. ii. 48 If there must be a Waterloo, let it be a conflict for all the minister's rights, so that he may never require to go to law in his lifetime again.

1859 W. Phillips Lesson of Hour 11 Every man meets his Waterloo at last.

1902 Washington Post 3 May 8/6 Five favorites and a heavily played second choice won, and ‘getaway day’ proved a Waterloo for the books.

1961 C. McCullers Clock without Hands iii. 67 I felt right then and there I had met my Waterloo.

2002 U.S. News & World Rep. 28 Oct. 53/2 HRT has not met its Waterloo. Despite the headlines, the estrogen–progestin regimen did not flunk ‘massively’.

†9. = Waterloo blue n. at sense 1. Obsolete.

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