what is a bated breath
Bated and baited sound the same and we no longer use bated (let alone the verb to bate), outside this one set phrase, which has become an idiom. Confusion is almost inevitable. Bated here is a contraction of abated through loss of the unstressed first vowel (a process called aphesis); it means âreduced, lessened, lowered in forceâ. So bated breath refers to a state in which you almost stop breathing as a result of some strong emotion, such as terror or awe. Shakespeare is the first writer known to use it, in The Merchant of Venice, in which Shylock says to Antonio: âShall I bend low and, in a bondmanâs key, / With bated breath and whispâring humbleness, / Say this ...â.