look to one's laurels, to be alert to the possibility of being excelled or surpassed: New developments in the industry are forcing long-established firms to look to their laurels.
10.
rest on one's laurels, to be content with one's past or present honors, achievements, etc.: He retired at the peak of his career and is resting on his laurels.
Origin: 1250–1300; dissimilated variant of Middle English laurer, earlier lorer < Anglo-French; Old French lorier bay tree, equivalent to lor bay, laurel (< Latin laurus) + -ier-ier2; see -er2
c.1300, lorrer, from O.Fr. laurier, from L. laurus "laurel tree," probably related to Gk. daphne "laurel" (for change of d- to l- see lachrymose), probably from a pre-IE Mediterranean language. The change of second -r- to -l- after c.1350 is by dissimilation. An emblem