"resting on your laurels"

Posted by Linda Laws on February 19, 2006

I know what the phrase "resting on your laurels" means. What I don't understand is how you can "rest" on them, as you would on a mattress, when they are placed on your head. Would it mean that when you have been given many, many laurel wreaths you could show off by making them into a pillow you could actually rest on?

• "Resting on your laurels" Bruce Kahl 20/February/06