bridge

bridge a structure carrying a road over a river or other obstacle, often in figurative use. Bridge-building is the promotion of friendly relations between groups.
Bridge Fraternity from the 12th century, a confraternity of laymen dedicated to the building or maintenance of a bridge, especially one carrying a pilgrimage route over a river. The best-known example of such a fraternity is that of the bridge of Avignon, founded by St-Bénézet in the late 12th century and linking Avignon with Villeneuve on the opposite bank of the Rhone.
bridge of boats a bridge formed by mooring boats side by side across a river; the bridge of boats over the river Rhône at Arles was in use throughout the 2nd and 3rd centuries ad.
Bridge of Sighs in Venice, a bridge connecting the Doge's palace with the state prison originally crossed by prisoners on their way to torture or execution.
cross that bridge when one comes to it deal with a problem when and if it arises; from the proverbial saying don't cross the bridge till you come to it (see cross3).
it is good to make a bridge of gold to a flying enemy it is wiser to give passage to an enemy in flight, who may be desperate; the idea is attributed to Aristides (480 bc), who warned Themistocles against destroying the bridge of boats which the Persian king Xerxes had constructed across the Hellespont for the invasion of Greece. The saying is recorded from the late 16th century.

See also everyone speaks well of the bridge that carries him over at speak, water of Chancery.