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)

  (file)

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

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, [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], chapter XXIII, in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Hartford, Conn.: The American Publishing Company, →OCLC, 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^[1], 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.

Related terms

• breathholding
• don't hold your breath
• hold one's breath

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 (hu)
• 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 (1996–2024) “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.