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with bated breath. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
with bated breath, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
with bated breath in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
with bated breath you have here. The definition of the word
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English
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
Prepositional phrase
with bated breath
- 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 Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , 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 , 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.
1925 July – 1926 May, A 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.
- (idiomatic) Eagerly; with great anticipation.
We are waiting with bated breath for the release of the new version.
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