a bridge too far

English

Etymology

In reference to Operation Market Garden, Allied airborne military operation of 1944. General Roy E. Urquhart, in his 1958 memoir Arnhem, ascribed the phrase to general Frederick “Boy” Browning. It was popularized by being chosen as the title of Cornelius Ryan’s 1974 book on Operation Market Garden and the subsequent 1977 epic war film.

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Noun

a bridge too far

1. (idiomatic) A step or action that is too ambitious; an act of overreaching.
   • 2006, Adair Broughton, Crossing the Bridge of Infinity, page 40:

     Cloning was an interesting concept. Cloning body parts was again just man's search for immortality riding on the back of naive altruistic medicinal benevolence. But cloning a person was a bridge too far.

   • 2021 April 28, Zachary Small, quoting William Goetzmann, “As Auctioneers and Artists Rush Into NFTs, Many Collectors Stay Away”, in New York Times‎^[1]:

     “Maybe we are seeing a similar phenomenon with NFTs — but it could be a bridge too far for people with collections in other media.”

Descendants

• → Dutch: een brug te ver (calque)