Where the heck does 'with baited breath' come from?

Question

'So I'll wait here with baited breath for an answer'!

Does that mean I have to put some kind of smelly food on my tongue to help entice an nice answer? Does the choice of breath determine the answer? Where has this saying come from?

Answer 1

No, it means that you are holding your breath waiting for the answer, like putting out a line and waiting for the fish to bite hehehe :).

Actually, the original spelling was "Bated breath" with the verb bate being a shortened form of abate or to reduce or decrease in intensity. So - to stop breathing. Over time, the 'a' got dropped, then the common spelling changed to baited and here lies the confusion.

It means that the person is really invested in the answer, and they are on edge until they get it.

Answer 2

Meaning

Breathing that is subdued because of some emotion or difficulty that is being experienced.

Origin

Which is it - bated or baited? We have baited hooks and baited traps, but bated - what's that? Bated doesn't even seem to be a real word, where else do you hear it? Having said that 'baited breath' makes little sense either. How can breath be baited? With worms?

There seems little guidance in contemporary texts. Search in Google and you'll find about the same number of hits for 'baited breath' as 'bated breath' - around 100,000 each. In one of the best selling books of all time - Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, (whose publisher could surely afford the services of a proof-reader), we have:

"The whole common room listened with baited breath."

As so often, help is found in the writings of the bard. The earliest citation of the phrase is from Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice, 1596:

"With bated breath, and whispring humblenesse."

Bated is just a shortened form of abated (meaning - to bring down, lower or depress). So, 'abated breath' makes sense and that's where the phrase comes from.

Geoffrey Taylor, in his little poem 'Cruel, Clever Cat', 1933, used the confusion over the word to good comic effect:

Sally, having swallowed cheese
Directs down holes the scented breeze
Enticing thus with baited breath
Nice mice to an untimely death.

Answer 3

It's actually *bated* breath. The phrase means to wait with great anticipation or anxiety; in essense, to wait in a state of suspense.

"Bated" is an aphetic shortening of "abate" -- to moderate, restrain, or lessen. But because "bated" is so rarely used these days, many people confuse the word with "baited," and so "to wait with baited breath" is becoming the standard form, much to the chagrin of English language purists.

Answer 4

Meaning

Breathing that is subdued because of some emotion or difficulty that is being experienced.

Origin

Bated is just a shortened form of abated (meaning - to bring down, lower or depress). So, 'abated breath' makes sense and that's where the phrase comes from.

Answer 5

Bated is just a shortened form of abated (meaning - to bring down, lower or depress). So, 'abated breath' makes sense and that's where the phrase comes from.

Answer 6

germs and plaque in your mouth. If you have a health mouth, try using a tounge scraper and this should help, that is usully where the germs are harboring. But if you have a lot of plaque build up and are in the early stages of periodontal disease then that could be why as well. which you might need a cleaning.

Answer 7

It's "Bated Breath" and it means:

Breathing that is subdued because of some emotion or difficulty that is being experienced.

Answer 8

I'm waiting with baited beath to see if I get 10 points for this one.

Answer 9

fish breath lol