with bated breath

with bated breath

English

WOTD – 23 December 2007

Alternative forms

• with 'bated breath, with baited breath (common misspelling)

Etymology

From the verb bate, alteration by aphesis of the verb abate (“to reduce; lessen”). Coined by William Shakespeare in The Merchant of Venice, see quotations.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, US) IPA^(key): /wɪð ˈbeɪtɪd ˈbɹɛθ/

• Audio (US)

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• Audio (AU)

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Prepositional phrase

with bated breath

1. With reduced breath.
   • c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene iii], page 166, column 2:

     Shall I bend low, and in a bond-mans key / With bated breath, and whiſpring humbleneſſe, / Say this:

   • 1876, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Hartford, Conn.: The American Publishing Company, OCLC 1000326417, page 187:

     […] with parted lips and bated breath the audience hung upon his words, taking no note of time, rapt in the ghastly fascinations of the tale.

   • 1878, Edward Hayes Plumptre, transl., Philoctetes‎, lines 845–846:

     Speak gently, Ο my son, speak gently now / With 'bated breath^[sic], speak low.

   • 1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “In which Challenger Meets a Strange Colleague”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:

     The Professor, the master, the supreme chief, he who had to be addressed with bated breath sat with half-opened mouth and staring eyes, leaning forward in his chair, while in front of him the slight young woman shaking her mop of brown hair and wagging an admonitory forefinger, spoke to him as a father speaks to a refractory child.

2. (idiomatic) Eagerly; with great anticipation.

   We are waiting with bated breath for the release of the new version.

Translations

holding one's breath

Belarusian: з зато́еным дыха́ннем (z zatójenym dyxánnjem), затаі́ўшы дыха́нне (zataíŭšy dyxánnje), стаі́ўшы дыха́нне (staíŭšy dyxánnje) Bulgarian: със затае́н дъх (sǎs zataén dǎh) Czech: se zatajeným dechem Finnish: henkeä pidätellen French: en retenant son souffle (fr) German: mit angehaltenem Atem Hebrew: בקוצר רוח‎ Korean: 숨을 죽이고 (sum-eul jugigo) Polish: z zapartym tchem Russian: затаи́в дыха́ние (ru) (zataív dyxánije) Slovak: so zatajeným dychom Spanish: conteniendo el aliento Swedish: med återhållen andedräkt Ukrainian: затамува́вши по́дих (zatamuvávšy pódyx)

eagerly

Dutch: met ingehouden adem Finnish: henkeä pidätellen French: avec impatience German: mit angehaltenem Atem Hungarian: lélegzetvisszafojtva Polish: z zapartym tchem Portuguese: prendendo o fôlego, com a respiração em suspenso, com a respiração suspensa Russian: затаи́в дыха́ние (ru) (zataív dyxánije) Spanish: pasmado (es), con aliento entrecortado Swedish: med andan i halsgropen Telugu: ఊపిరి బిగబట్టి (ūpiri bigabaṭṭi)

References

• Michael Quinion (1996–2023), “With bated breath”, in World Wide Words.
• Michael Quinion (2004), “With bated breath”, in Ballyhoo, Buckaroo, and Spuds: Ingenious Tales of Words and Their Origins, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Books in association with Penguin Books, →ISBN.