Famous quintet finally meet defeat (5)
I believe the answer is:
trout
'famous quintet' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I cannot understand how one could define the other.
'finally meet defeat' is the wordplay.
'finally' indicates one should take the final letters.
'defeat' becomes 'rout' (routing is a kind of defeating).
The last letter of 'meet' is 't'.
't'+'rout'='TROUT'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for trout that I've seen before include "tickled to death?" , "Swimmer" , "Rainbow, for example" , "one may be hooked" , "air" .)