town, Nord département, Nord-Pas-de-Calais région, northern France, on the Belgian-French border. A northeastern suburb of Roubaix, it has textile, chemical, and metallurgical industries. The community was known as Waterloz in 1030, and the discovery of a golden effigy of Nero in 1864 indicated Roman occupation of the area. Pop. (1999) 42,753; (2005 est.) 42,800.