burn that bridge when one comes to it
English
Etymology
A mixed metaphor combining cross that bridge when one comes to it and burn one's bridges.
Verb
burn that bridge when one comes to it
- (idiomatic) To anticipate dealing with a problem or situation by acting in a manner that alienates or cuts ties with others.
- 1941, Frank Leslie, et al, eds., The American Magazine, Vol. 132, p. 44:
- That takes care of Kay. As for the man, I'll burn that bridge when I come to it.
- 1950, David Albert Davidson, In Another Country, p. 204:
- ...when the time came in making the inevitable break. Well — he'd burn that bridge when he came to it.
- 1999, Andre Norton, Rosemary Edghill, The Shadow of Albion, p. 168:
- Tonight the happy couple were to sleep at Dyer House, as generations of Dukes and their Duchesses had before them, but — as Wessex's partner often said — they would burn that bridge when they came to it.
- 2010, Jessica Beck, Fatally Frosted: A Donut Shop Mystery, p. 62:
- “We can't do anything about that now. Emma, we'll burn that bridge when we come to it, okay?”
- 2015, Lawrence Block, Defender of the Innocent: The Casebook of Martin Ehrengraf, p. 110:
- Clients often whistled a different tune at a later date, but one could burn that bridge when one came to it.
- 1941, Frank Leslie, et al, eds., The American Magazine, Vol. 132, p. 44: