earn (one's) wings

To prove one's merit and skill. I never thought much of Stu, but he really earned his wings this week with how well he handled the merger.

Name	Pronounced	Usage
Ali (1)	‘ah-LEE: (Arabic)	Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Pashto, Indonesian, Malay
Ransom	['rænsəm]
Amenhotep	ah-mən-HO-tep (English)	Ancient Egyptian
Gwenfrewi	-	Welsh
Ludovic	-	French
Juan (2)	-	Chinese