| The American Heritage® Book of English Usage. |
A Practical and Authoritative Guide to Contemporary English. 1996.
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3. Word Choice: New Uses, Common Confusion, and Constraints
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| § 42. baited / bated |
| If you wait for something with baited breath, people may well wonder what you have baited it with. The correct phrase is bated breath, which comes from the verb bate, meaning “to lessen or restrain,” as in “To his dying day he bated his breath a little when he told the story” (George Eliot). | 1 |
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| The American Heritage® Book of English Usage. Copyright © 1996 by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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