that ship has sailed

English

Alternative forms

• that ship has already sailed

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Phrase

that ship has sailed

1. (originally US) That opportunity has already passed; it is too late to do anything about it.
   • 1995 November, “The One Where Ross Finds Out”, in Friends, season 2, episode 7 (television production), spoken by Ross (David Schwimmer):

     The point is I… I don't need this right now, OK. It, it's too late, I'm with somebody else, I'm happy. This ship has sailed.

Synonyms

• that train has left the station

Translations

that opportunity has passed

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Armenian: գնացքը գնացել է (gnacʻkʻə gnacʻel ē)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 時不再來／时不再来 (zh), 大勢已去／大势已去 (zh) (dàshìyǐqù)

• Czech: please add this translation if you can
• Danish: det tog er kørt
• Dutch: dat is een gepasseerd station
• Finnish: se juna meni jo
• German: dieser Zug ist abgefahren (de) (literally “that train has left”)
• Hindi: please add this translation if you can
• Hungarian: ez a vonat (már) elment (literally “this train has (already) gone”), ez a hajó (már) elment (literally “this ship has (aready) gone”), ez a hajó (már) elúszott (literally “this ship has (already) drifted away”)
• Italian: hai perso il treno
• Japanese: please add this translation if you can
• Korean: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: det toget er kjørt (literally “that train has left”), det løpet er kjørt (literally “that race is over”)

• Portuguese: a fila anda
• Romanian: trece baba cu colacii
• Russian: по́езд ушёл (pójezd ušól, literally “the train is gone”), поздно пить боржоми (pozdno pitʹ boržomi)
• Spanish: ese barco ya zarpó, se te fue el tren
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can

See also

• close the stable door after the horse has bolted
• genie is out of the bottle
• miss the boat
• there's no point crying over spilt milk