Dictionary Home » The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms » cross a bridge when one comes to it

cross a bridge when one comes to it

cross a bridge when one comes to it idiom
Also, cross that bridge when you come to it. Deal with a situation when, and not before, it occurs. For example, If we can't sell the house—well, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. The ultimate origin of this proverb, a caution not to anticipate trouble and often put as don't cross a bridge till you come to it, has been lost. The earliest recorded use is in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's The Golden Legend (1851): “Don't cross the bridge till you come to it, is a proverb old and of excellent wit.”

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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