with bated breath

• with 'bated breath, with baited breath (common misspelling)

From the verb bate, alteration by aphesis of the verb abate (“to reduce; lessen”).

• (Received Pronunciation, US) IPA^(key): /wɪð ˈbeɪtɪd ˈbɹɛθ/

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with bated breath

1. with reduced breath
   • 1598, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act I Scene 3

     Or | Shall I bend low and in a bondman's key, | With bated breath and whispering humbleness, Say this;

   • 1878, Edward Hayes Plumptre (transl.), Philoctetes, lines 845-846.

     Speak gently, Ο my son, speak gently now
     With 'bated breath, speak low.

2. (idiomatic) Eagerly; with great anticipation.

   We are waiting with bated breath for the release of the new version.

• Discussion of the phrase
• “With bated breath” in Michael Quinion, Ballyhoo, Buckaroo, and Spuds: Ingenious Tales of Words and Their Origins, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Books in association with Penguin Books, 2004, →ISBN.