look to one's laurels
Protect one's preeminent reputation or position, especially against a threat of being surpassed. For example, Your opponent's done very well in the practice, so you'd better look to your laurels in the actual game. This idiom alludes to laurels as the traditional material for making a victor's crown. [Late 1800s]
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Words nearby look to one's laurels
look someone in the face, look the other way, look-through, look through rose-colored glasses, look to, look to one's laurels, lookup, look up and down, look up to, look who's talking, looky
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.