Meaning
Past events, especially quarrels or mistakes, that are now irrecoverable and therefore best forgiven or forgotten. Typically said during reconciliations or when declining to reopen an old grievance. Informal-to-neutral register; conciliatory, forgiving connotation, used to close off past conflict. Regional use: General English.
Origin
A plain and transparent metaphor: water that has already flowed under a bridge cannot flow back, just as the past cannot be undone; no single coiner is credited. The related American form 'water over the dam' is recorded from 1797 according to the American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms. The 'under the bridge' version dates from the 19th century, with an early documented use in Julia Kavanagh's 1858 novel Adele, where its unremarked appearance suggests it was already familiar in speech. A similar French proverb, 'il passera bien de l'eau sous le pont', circulated from the 1840s, though no direct borrowing is established.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- that's all water under the bridge
- water over the dam
- water under the bridge now
Usage Examples
- We argued terribly in our first year, but it is all water under the bridge now.
- He apologized for the lawsuit, and she told him it was water under the bridge.
- Whatever was said at that dinner, let it stay water under the bridge.