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That's happened in the past, cannot be undone, and can no longer be a consideration. The proverb comes from the saying: 'A lot of water has flowed (passed, gone) over the dam (under the bridge.) 'Under the bridge' is British and is the oldest part of the proverb. 'Over the dam' is its American variant.
As @WS2 has alluded to in comments Water Under the bridge is an idiom meaning. problems that someone has had in the past that they do not worry about because they happened a long time ago and cannot now be changed: Yes, we did have our disagreements but that's water under the bridge now. However, sometimes there is not any water under the bridge.
The earliest form of the phrase is water has flowed under the bridge appearing in 1858 according to OED. They also suggest comparing it to the French expression "il passera bien de l'eau sous le pont", lit. ‘much water will pass under the bridge’ (1842 or earlier). water under the bridge (also over the dam, under the dyke, under the mill ...
You are correct. The idiomatic phrase is "water under the bridge," which means "Something that happened in the past and cannot now be changed."
My first impression was that it must be above the bridge, but since there was nothing above the bridge, I started walking towards the bridge and saw that it was on the other side of the bridge. After coming back I went through the dictionary and found the “other side of ” meaning of the word above, which I did not know earlier.
14. The Phrase finder provides an explanation of the origin: : To be under the weather is to be unwell. This comes again from a maritime source. In the old days, when a sailor was unwell, he was sent down below to help his recovery, under the deck and away from the weather.
Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.” So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. The idea of getting water from a stone is an unreasonable idea. I think the meaning behind this verse is that it is such a tremendous feat, and yet God could accomplish it with a single strike.
Swept under the rug (or carpet) is an idiom meaning to conceal something that is embarrassing that you don't want other people to know about. Think about cleaning the floor. You have all the dirt, and are too lazy or out of time to find something to pick it up, so you lift the corner of the rug and sweep it there. The idiom carries this meaning ...
I don't see how the example Collins gives matches their definition, and, like OP, I haven't seen one that does. The example certainly does not license OP's queried bridge X to Y usage. Surely it's a shorter version of 'bridge over our differences' (cf 'patch over our differences') and an idiosyncratic, idiomatic usage.
Callithumpian. 24.9k 8 75 167. Perhaps related to the 1721 Scottish saying "my tongue is not under your belt" is the Scottish proverb "put thy thumb under my belt", to submit (1848), listed in 1737 as "thy thumb is under my belt". – Hugo. May 24, 2012 at 12:58.