Polyhymnia · Daily Eloquencewith bated breath
In held-breath suspense — though these days it's as likely to be deadpan as sincere.
"Bated" is a fossil — a worn-down "abated" that survives in this phrase and almost nowhere else, so nearly everyone who says it is using a word they'd struggle to define on its own.
It also sounds exactly like "baited," which is why that misspelling refuses to die: of the two, only "baited" is a word anyone otherwise has a use for.
And nothing this ceremonious stays sincere for long — the person waiting with bated breath is often not waiting at all.
“Sure, send it over whenever you get to it. I'll be right here with bated breath.”
A coworker has promised a decision three times and delivered nothing.
“For two hours the waiting room sat with bated breath, listening for the surgeon's shoes in the hallway.”
Sincere use, where the stakes carry the weight the phrase can't carry alone.
In conversation it lands as sarcasm as often as not, so if you mean it straight, give it real stakes or put it in writing — otherwise your listener will hear a smirk you didn't intend. And never "baited": the misspelling is common enough that editors treat it as a tell.
"Bated" barely survives outside this one phrase — a fossil word, still holding its breath.
▸More — where it lives, variations, references
Shakespeare put it in Shylock's mouth first, so far as anyone can tell — and the phrase has been holding its breath ever since.
“with bated breath and whispering humbleness”
BAY-ted, two syllables — and in most American mouths that middle t softens toward a d: BAY-did. The stress lands on BAY, dips through the second syllable, then lands again on BREATH. Don't rush the seam between the words: the d ending "bated" never fully releases before your lips close for "breath," so for one beat no air moves at all — which is the whole point.
- · don't hold your breath
- · on tenterhooks
- · breathless anticipation
- Wordorigins.org — 'bated breath' (first known appearance = Merchant of Venice; 'bate' as aphetic form of 'abate'; 'to bate is pretty much gone from present-day English')
- Wiktionary — 'with bated breath' (/wɪð ˈbeɪtɪd ˈbɹɛθ/ identical for RP and US; labeled idiomatic only, no literary label; 'with baited breath' listed as a common misspelling; 'don't hold your breath' given as a related term)
- Phrases.org.uk — 'Bated Breath' (Shakespeare attribution; 'bated' obsolete outside this phrase)
- World Wide Words — 'Bated breath' (bated/baited confusion; aphetic 'abated')
- The Free Dictionary (Idioms) — 'with bated breath' (attests ironic use: 'today used somewhat ironically'; page itself returned 403 to direct fetch, quoted via search index — treated as secondary)