http://talkwordy.com/2009/11/13/i-wrote-this-with-bated-breath/ Sun, 08 Apr 2012 02:29:11 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ http://talkwordy.com/2009/11/13/i-wrote-this-with-bated-breath/#comment-1116 Fri, 13 Nov 2009 22:59:30 +0000 http://talkwordy.com/?p=1033#comment-1116 So many spell this as ‘baited’ breath, I think because they think it’s like something that’s been caught, like a fish that’s been hooked because of bait. It’s understandable, I guess. I didn’t know it was linked with ‘abate’. Interesting.

]]> http://talkwordy.com/2009/11/13/i-wrote-this-with-bated-breath/#comment-1115 Fri, 13 Nov 2009 21:22:39 +0000 http://talkwordy.com/?p=1033#comment-1115 I would suggest that bated has been bottled up in the phrase with bated breath for so long that its “real” meaning has been lost. That it would escape to a world that barely recognizes it should come as no surprise. It seems to have come to mean, at least in this citation, ‘hovering expectantly.’

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