bated

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   held back, reduced, or restrained, now used chiefly in the phrase 'with bated breath'

   The audience waited with bated breath for the final result.

The past participle of bate, an aphetic form of abate ("to lessen or restrain"). In bated breath, recorded from the late sixteenth century, the breath is figuratively held back in suspense.

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