feather in one's cap

Definition

An accomplishment; particularly one that is flaunted or boasted of.

Etymology

The placing of a feather in a hat has been a symbol of achievement that has arisen in several cultures, apparently independently. The English writer and traveller Richard Hansard recorded it in his Description of Hungary, 1599: "It hath been an antient custom among them [Hungarians] that none should wear a fether but he who had killed a Turk, to whom onlie yt was lawful to shew the number of his slaine enemys by the number of fethers in his cappe." The Native American tradition of adding a feather to the head-dress of any warrior who performed a brave act is well known.

Example Sentences

• "He thinks it is quite a feather in his cap that he figured it out for himself."
• "And contrary to his own Expectation, as well as that of every Body else, when he came to Court, the seven and twentieth of July, the Staff was taken from him, rather with mortifying, than agreeable Circumstances ; When a considerable Pension, or at least a Feather in his Cap, was the least that was expected for him."
• "Everyone was elated with this turn of events, most of all Colonel Cathcart, who was convinced he had won a feather in his cap."