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 actual origin has been elusive.  ( source ) The idiom's intended meaning is - you can't cross a bridge until you get to it so quit anticipating how to cross it long before it is visible.

Whenever I think, or hear, or use, this expression several things come to mind. But before we get to those let's talk origin. Or ideas about the origin. One source says it has been around since the mid-1700s. Another source says it has religious origins. It's meaning is that blessings aren't always obvious, sometimes they are hidden under icky stuff - or stuff that seems/feels icky. Here's a song that always comes to mind when I think about blessings in disguise

This common expression has a couple of different credits to its origin. One is Livy, the Roman Historian (pictured above). The other credits the poet and dramatist Michael Drayton in 1596. ( source ) Regardless of who uttered the phrase first the fact is it has been around for a very long time! It's meaning is another way to say that something bad is being made worse.

The origin of this term is crazy! Back in the day the Prince couldn't be whipped for any trouble he caused so each Prince apparently had a literal whipping boy. A boy that served as the proxy Prince for punishment purposes. That's crazy! ( source ) Now the term has a bit of a broader meaning. It's someone who is singled out, a scapegoat (which we've already had on a previous post ).

This term is meant as a way to warn people that what was just said should not be taken seriously. It showed up in print in 1828, read about it here . 

The book of Isaiah is a popular source for some of our most common expressions. Today's is another example. ( source ) Seeing eye to eye means you agree with someone else. 

This very popular expression comes from the Bible, the book of Isaiah, and has evolved from its origin to the meaning we use it for today - get up from bed and get ready for the day. ( source ) 

This phrase seems to have been born in 1919 and the origin is not really clear but the meaning is. A sock would do the trick to quiet a person. ( source )

This expression was born during WWII as part of the US Office of War Information's attempt to warn people from talking about potential useful information for the enemy. ( source )

In use since the mid-1600s, the origins of this expression are unclear beyond the obvious imagery of someone who is a bit of a fantasist (having one’s head in the clouds is clearly impossible – or at least it was in the days before aviation!). ( source )

The origin and meaning of this expression is pretty straightforward. Climbing a tree and inching out on the limbs is a bit unnerving. It takes courage to do it. ( source ) And in life going out on a limb might not be a literal thing but figuratively it means any kind of risk we take. 

The expression must have been in popular use in the USA by 1894, when it was used in an advertisement as the name of a proprietary medicine for sore throats, in The Stevens Point Journal, November 1894: "The Taylor Bros. say that 'Frog in the Throat' will cure hoarseness. 10 cents and box." One theory about a frog in the throat is that the secretions of frogs helped cure sore throats. But that is just a theory, most likely not true but interesting to think about!   ( source ) To say it today is to indicate that someone's voice has gone scratchy or rough. 

There is not a clear origin for this common phrase but there are a few ideas.  One source says the expression goes back to at least the mid-19th century, as seen in the newspaper Piqua Democrat, June 1867: "Don't judge a book by its cover, see a man by his cloth, as there is often a good deal of solid worth  and superior skill underneath a [???] jacket and yaller pants." Other ideas are found here . The expression is meant to convey that often what someone or something looks like isn't representative of the truth of who they are or what it is. Like Susan Boyle, below. Simon dismissed her because of how she looks...until she opened her mouth. 

Way back when the carnival game prizes weren't child oriented, they were for the adults and the most common prize was cigars. So when a person would come close to winning but fall short it was said, "Close but no cigar." ( source ) Today the phrase has nothing to do with carnival games and cigars but the meaning is the same. When you come close but don't quite get there...

There are many theories about the origin of this phrase but one thing is clear - it originated in the theater world. Read about its many possibilities here .