Comes from the same root word as "abatement", "bate" is old English root for "stop". That old
saying, and the noun "abatement" is pretty much the only place it survives these days. So, "bated breath" is
holding one's breath.
Ah, Allen got it before me. I have always been a word nut. I used to read voraciously as a kid, slowed down
a bit, but also kept a dictionary handy, too.
Buckets and buckets of "old sayings" used by people who have not a hint of what they really used to mean.
A common one is "tow the line"
, which is actually "toe the line" from, if I am correct, military requirements
to stand exactly with one's toes at some particular location, as ordered. Lots more examples of old
saying misused.....Malapropisms, many times, but often misspellings since the saying was only heard, never
seen written.
Bill