a feather in (one's) cap
An accomplishment or achievement that one takes pride in. If this clinical trial is successful, it will be a real feather in her cap. Getting promoted to management after spending only a month at the new job was a feather in her cap. Earning that full scholarship to Yale is quite a feather in his cap.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
feather in one's cap
Fig. an honor; a reward for something. Getting a new client was really a feather in my cap. John earned a feather in his cap by getting an A in physics.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
feather in one's cap, a
An act or deed to one's credit; a distinctive achievement. For example, Getting all three factions to the bargaining table would be a feather in his cap. This expression alludes to the practice of putting a feather on a soldier's cap for every enemy he kills, an early practice of some Native American tribes and many other peoples. [Early 1600s]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
feather in (one's) cap
An act or deed to one's credit; a distinctive achievement.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
feather in one's cap, a
A special honor or achievement. This term comes from the custom of numerous peoples—American Indian tribes, Turks, Himalayan peoples, among others—of placing a feather in a soldier’s cap for every enemy he kills. The term began to be used figuratively by the early seventeenth century and was a cliché by the time Laurence Sterne wrote, “The feather put into his cap of having been abroad” (Tristram Shandy, 1761–67).
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer