pride and joy

Idioms & Phrases

pride and joy

The object of one's great pleasure, as in Our new grandson is our pride and joy, or Dana's car is his pride and joy. This term was probably invented by Sir Walter Scott in his poem Rokeby (1813), where he described children as "a mother's pride, a father's joy."

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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