alamo
n. countablen. a place or situation where people fight very hard to defend themselves, even if they know they might lose. It comes from a famous historical battle in Texas where a small group refused to give up.
n. A situation or location representing a final, often desperate stand against overwhelming odds. Used metaphorically as a byword for a definitive struggle or a point of no return.
The small company made its last alamo against the corporate takeover.
For the aging politician, this local election became a personal alamo to protect his family's legacy.
The defense attorney viewed the final appeal as a legal alamo, a desperate attempt to overturn a conviction that had seemed inevitable since the trial's inception.
Borrowed from Spanish álamo (“cottonwood tree”).
Often used in the phrase 'a last alamo' or 'one's alamo'; frequently capitalized when referring to the historical site in San Antonio.