“Water under the bridge” refers to past problems or disagreements that cannot now be changed and are no longer worth worrying about. The guide gives the current meaning without attaching an unsupported exact origin date.
ReviewedEvidence1 sourceSectionPhrases & Idioms
Quick answer
“Water under the bridge” means a past problem is over and no longer worth dwelling on.
Key details
Canonical Formwater under the bridge
Core Meaning“Water under the bridge” refers to past problems or disagreements that cannot now be changed and are no longer worth worrying about.
Further guidance
History Boundary
This guide establishes current dictionary-supported meaning and does not claim an exact inventor, coinage date, or first use.
Meaning
“Water under the bridge” refers to past problems or disagreements that cannot now be changed and are no longer worth worrying about.
Usage Boundary
Use the expression in contexts matching the documented figurative meaning rather than inventing a literal or historical explanation.
Sources and evidence
Sources are shown with the role they play in this guide. Historical or style-sensitive claims are kept within the evidence boundary described above.
“Cross that bridge when we come to it” means deal with a possible problem if and when it actually arises instead of worrying about it in advance. An 1851 Longfellow text directly preserves an older negative form and explicitly calls it an old proverb.
The saying “a watched pot never boils” expresses how impatient waiting can make time feel unusually slow. This guide limits its public explanation to the present meaning supported by Oxford and does not publish a speculative origin chronology.
“Against the clock” describes working quickly to finish before a time limit and can also describe an activity in which elapsed time is recorded to compare speed. This guide keeps those current senses separate from unsupported origin chronology.
“At the drop of a hat” describes acting immediately or very readily. This guide publishes the current form and meaning supported by Cambridge without adding an unsupported story about a precise origin or first use.
To put something “on the back burner” is to postpone or deprioritize it temporarily rather than deal with it now. The guide stays with current documented meaning and does not add unsupported origin chronology.
“Better late than never” is used when a delayed action, arrival, or improvement is still considered worthwhile because the alternative would be no action at all. This guide does not claim an exact origin date.
“Burn the midnight oil” means to work late into the night. Historical phrase research reports “mid-night oyle” in Francis Quarles’s 1635 Emblemes and an earlier 1623 dictionary entry for working by candlelight, which provides context without proving a single moment of coinage.
“By Chance” means without being planned or intended, or without a known cause. Use it for accidental or unplanned occurrence; “by any chance” is a different expression often used to soften a question or request.
