Post #57347 by mrsmiley on Tue, Oct 28, 2003 11:50 AM

On 2003-10-26 13:15, purple jade wrote:
What is "baited breath" exactly?

It's actually 'bated breath'. Basically it's holding your
breath. Bate means 'to lessen the force of; moderate'. It comes
from the same root as abate. It's pretty much fallen out of the
lexicon except for this expression (as far as I'm aware)"

sorry, PJ--i was trying to figure out if I should post a real reply or a smart-a** one. :) I do like the "fishy" comment.