To attach one’s aspirations for success to a particular event, individual, or the like. This term began in the sixteenth century as pin one’s faith on another’s sleeve and appeared in this form in John Ray’s 1678 proverb collection. Ebenezer Brewer believed it came from the feudal practice of troops wearing their leader’s badge on their sleeves. Since badges and loyalties sometimes changed, people became wary of judging where one stood from such a badge and said they would not pin their faith on someone’s sleeve. By the nineteenth century, however, hopes were replacing faith (at least in this term) and sleeves were lost altogether.