with bated breath | Idiomator

Meaning: With reducedbreath.c.1596–1598(date written),William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, inMr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies[…](First Folio), London:[…]Isaac Iaggard, andEd[ward]Blount, published1623,→OCLC,[Act I, scene iii],page166, column 2:Shall I bend low, and in a bond-mans key /With bated breath, and whiſpring humbleneſſe, / Say this:1876,Mark Twain[pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter XXIII, inThe Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Hartford, Conn.: The American Publishing Company,→OCLC,page187:[…]withparted lips andbated breaththe audience hung upon his words, taking no note of time, rapt in the ghastly fascinations of the tale.1878,Edward Hayes Plumptre, transl.,Philoctetes‎[1], lines845–846:Speak gently, Ο my son, speak gently now /With 'bated breath[sic], speak low.1925July –1926May,A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “In which Challenger Meets a Strange Colleague”, inThe Land of Mist(eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia:Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:The Professor, the master, the supreme chief, he who had to be addressedwith bated breathsat with half-opened mouth and staring eyes, leaning forward in his chair, while in front of him the slight young woman shaking her mop of brown hair and wagging an admonitory forefinger, spoke to him as a father speaks to a refractory child.; (idiomatic)Eagerly; with greatanticipation.We are waitingwith bated breathfor the release of the new version.

Examples:

EN: As November came and the great event drew nearer and nearer, we all waited with bated breath.
ES: Llegó noviembre y conforme se aproximaba el gran acontecimiento... estábamos con el alma en vilo.
EN: We all watched him with bated breath. How would he behave when the Reverend Galsworthy took him in his arms?
ES: ¿Cómo se portaría?
EN: One day, they watch with bated breath while a single individual orbits the earth in a rinky-dink little cubicle and they think this is the most historic moment that's ever happened in the history of mankind.
ES: El milenio. Si, muy cerca. Cuantos de ellos hay por aqui?
EN: I've heard lads talk about you with bated breath!
ES: ¡He oído mucho hablar de ti!
EN: Shall I bend low, and in a bondsman's key, with bated breath and whispering humbleness say this:
ES: ¿Debo inclinarme como un siervo, y con voz ansiosa y humilde decir:
EN: He described later how he once stood with bated breath, watching the human snake wind past, until he made for home, a victim of fear and depression.
ES: Más tarde, describió cómo se quedó con el alma en vilo observando pasar a la gran serpiente humana. Se fue a casa víctima del miedo y la depresión.
EN: - A lightweight. - I grant you doesn't wait with bated breath for his next decision.
ES: - La facultad de Derecho de Harvard... no espera ansiosamente su próximo fallo.
EN: We used to, absolutely, with bated breath wait for the new albums to come out.
ES: Esperabamos con la respiración contenida por los nuevos albums.
EN: Dieyi, get out of bed. All of Beijing is waiting with bated breath... for the next appearance of the King and his Concubine!
ES: ¡Todo Beijing espera conteniendo la respiración... a la próxima aparición del Rey y su Concubina!
EN: You'd sit there with bated breath.
ES: Conteniendo la respiración.
EN: "with bated breath, the bachelors await your suit"
ES: Con el corazón detenido, nos quedamos parados amando cada pelo.
EN: - We await his return with bated breath.
ES: - Lo esperamos con ansiedad.
EN: We wait with bated breath.
ES: Esperamos con el alma en vilo.
ES: Esperamos la respuesta con el alma en vilo.
EN: Oh, sure, I mean, the fact that the entire world is waiting with bated breath.
ES: Oh, seguro, quiero decir, el hecho de que el mundo entero... está esperando con el aliento contenido.
EN: The huge cheering squad watches over him with bated breath!
ES: ¡El público contiene la respiración!

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