with bated breath
English
WOTD – 23 December 2007
Alternative forms
- with 'bated breath, with baited breath (common misspelling)
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation, US) IPA(key): /wɪð ˈbeɪtɪd ˈbɹɛθ/
Audio (US) (file) Audio (AU) (file)
Prepositional phrase
- with reduced breath
- 1598, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act I Scene 3
- Or | Shall I bend low and in a bondman's key, | With bated breath and whispering humbleness, Say this;
- 1878, Edward Hayes Plumptre (transl.), Philoctetes, lines 845-846.
- Speak gently, Ο my son, speak gently now
With 'bated breath, speak low.
- Speak gently, Ο my son, speak gently now
- 1598, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act I Scene 3
- (idiomatic) Eagerly; with great anticipation.
- We are waiting with bated breath for the release of the new version.
Translations
holding one's breath
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eagerly
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References
- Discussion of the phrase
- “With bated breath” in Michael Quinion, Ballyhoo, Buckaroo, and Spuds: Ingenious Tales of Words and Their Origins, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Books in association with Penguin Books, 2004, →ISBN.
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