Eat crow

(Acknowledge a mistake giving rise to personal discomfort) - The expression's origins are American, from folklore from the late 19th century. Crow would have been regarded as a rather distasteful dish. According to etymologists, eating crow became the subject of a story reported in the Atlanta Constitution in 1888, which told the tale of an American soldier in the War of 1812, who shot a crow during a ceasefire.

A British officer complimented the soldier on his shooting and asked to see the gun, which when handed to him; he turned on the soldier, reprimanding him for trespassing, and forcing the soldier to eat a piece of the dead crow. However, on having the gun returned to him, the soldier promptly turned the weapon on the officer, and made him eat the rest of the crow.

Eat humble pie

(Acknowledge one's own mistake or adopt a subordinate position, particularly giving rise to personal discomfort ) - This is nothing to do with the word 'humble' originally; 'umbles' were the offal of animals hunted for their meat; while the lord and his guests dined on venison, his hunting staff ate pie made from the umbles. The word 'umbles' is from 16th century England and had been mistranslated into 'humble' by the late 19th century.

Expat

(Person living or working abroad) - The modern-day 'expat' expression is commonly believed to be a shortening of 'ex-patriot', but this is not true.

The hyphenated form is a corruption of the word expatriate, which originally was a verb meaning to banish (and later to withdraw oneself, in the sense of rejecting one's nationality) from one's native land, from the French expatrier, meaning to banish, and which came into use in English in the 1700s.

The use of expatriate in its modern interpretation seems to have begun around 1900, and was popularised by Lilian Bell's novel 'The Expatriate', about wealthy Americans living in Paris, published in 1902.

A feather in your cap

(A recognized achievement) - This term derives from the ancient custom seen in various cultures of warriors and hunters adding a feather to their headgear for each kill (eg, native American Indians, the Incas, Abyssinians, Lycians, and the Caufirs of Cabul); it was even customary in Scottish and Welsh field shooting for the first to kill a woodcock to do the same; maybe still is.