What is the meaning of phrase with bated breath?
: in a nervous and excited state anticipating what will happen They waited for the answer on their application with bated breath.
Which is correct bated breath or baited breath?
A The correct spelling is actually bated breath but it’s so common these days to see it written as baited breath that there’s every chance that it will soon become the usual form, to the disgust of conservative speakers and the confusion of dictionary writers.
Is with bated breath correct?
That set phrase, “with bated breath,” is the only place you’ll hear the word “bated” used these days. Since “bated” is such an archaic word, and most people aren’t used to seeing it, it’s common to see the phrase incorrectly written as “with baited breath.” B-A-I-T-E-D, like baiting a hook in fishing.
Where did the phrase with bated breath come from?
You’ll breathe easier once you master this frequently misused phrase. Bated breath first appeared in Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice in 1605. Using a shortened form of abated, which means “stopped or reduced,” the phrase refers to people holding their breath in excitement or fear as they wait to see what happens next.
How do you use bated breath in a sentence?
Flora and I waited with bated breath to hear what Evelyn considered sensible. I was waiting with bated breath for him to say something, anything, that wasn’t a cliché. Once, twice, and he waited with bated breath, trapped by a childhood memory. She waited with bated breath for their host to emerge from the shadows.
Why do people say the Dickens?
Dickens is a substitute for the word devil. Some people try to avoid saying the word devil for religious reasons. One of the most common phrases using like the dickens is to say that something hurt like the dickens. For example, that hurt like the dickens.
What does are you baiting mean?
to intentionally make a person angry by saying or doing things to annoy them: Ignore him – he’s just baiting you. I suspect he was just baiting me. SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases. Causing feelings of anger and displeasure.
What is the origin of bated breath?
Why do we say dead as a doornail?
Dead as a doornail is a phrase which means not alive, unequivocally deceased. The term goes back to the 1300s, the phrase dead as a doornail is found in poems of the time. It is thought that the phrase dead as a doornail comes from the manner of securing doornails that were hammered into a door by clenching them.
What are the origins of the phrase ‘Bated Breath’?
Bated breath is a phrase first mentioned in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice. The word bated is an abbreviation of the word abated, meaning to lessen in severity or amount. Bated is rarely used on its own as an adjective or verb anymore, but it lingers in the English language in the phrase bated breath.
What does it mean to be “waiting with baited breath”?
To wait with “bated breath” is to eagerly anticipate something, to be intensely focused on some future event. The phrase has become a regular part of idiomatic language in most English speaking areas of the world, but even many native English speakers may not recognize its true derivation and origin.
What’s the difference between the words ‘baited’ and ‘Bated’?
Baited is the past form of the verb bait, which means to tease, harass, or put food (or bait) in a trap. A hook, witness, or animal is baited (lured, enticed, tempted). The word bated is a clipped form of the past tense of the verb abate, which means to reduce or restrain. Breath is bated.
What is the source of waiting with bated breath?
“With bated breath,” was first used in Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice, but its origins are from falconry . When falcons want to “bate from the block,” or fly away, they try to take off but are held near their perch on their leash. They get short of breath doing so and have to wait for the falconer to release them, hence the term “bated breath.”