Dunkirk

n. seaport in Northern France; place to which British expeditionary forces were evacuated in 1940; name of several cities in the USA

n. desperate retreat; crisis in which a desperate last effort is required to avoid total disaster

Dunkirk (French: Dunkerque, pronounced  or ; Dutch: ; German: Dünkirchen) is a harbour city and a commune in the northernmost part of France, in the department of Nord, 10 kilometres (6 mi) from the Belgian border. Population of the city (commune) at the 1999 census was 70,850 inhabitants (71,300 inhabitants as of February 2004 estimates). Population of the whole metropolitan area (aire urbaine) was 265,974 inhabitants at the 1999 census.
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Noun
1. a crisis in which a desperate effort is the only alternative to defeat; "the Russians had to pull off a Dunkirk to get out of there"
(hypernym) crisis
2. a city in northern France on the North Sea where in World War II (1940) 330,000 Allied troops had to be evacuated from the beaches at Dunkirk in a desperate retreat under enemy fire
(synonym) Dunkerque
(hypernym) city, metropolis, urban center
(part-holonym) World War II, World War 2, Second World War
(classification) France, French Republic