Revised as of
26 June 2023
This is the start of the Word Confusions. I’ll post a set of words every once in awhile that authors tend to confuse for the other as part of my Author Tools idea. We’ll see where it goes . . .
It is such a gross word picture every time I read that someone is “waiting with baited breath”. Yuck!!! I mean, I love sushi. I adore sushi. But I just don’t think of “sushi” and “bait” as being in the same food group.
Bait is a worm or a bug ya stick on a hook when ya go fishin’. Well, okay, one of my nieces had this thing for a while that she’d gross out her sibs by eating worms, but . . . I really don’t think that’s the imagery the author(s) had in mind.
I certainly can’t imagine kissing somebody with worm breath . . . See the caution below.
Bate is more of an emotional reaction: anger, fear, a need to escape, or sadness. A rare one is its use as a solution in tanning hides. No, leather, not butts!
Word Confusions . . .
. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noire for you from either end.
If you found this post on “Bait versus Bate” interesting, consider subscribing to KD Did It, if you’d like to track this post for future updates.
| Bait | Bate |
|---|---|
Regenwurn1 by Michael Linnenbach is under the GFDL or CC-BY-SA-3.0 licenses, via Wikimedia Commons. |
Parabuteo Unicinctus Takeoff by Flickr user David Friel is under the CC BY 2.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons. — A six-year-old female Harris’ hawk bating. |
| Part of Grammar: | |
| Noun; Verb, transitive
Plural for the noun: baits Third person present verb: baits Variant spelling of bate 2 |
Noun, singular 1; Noun 2
Verb 3, intransitive & transitive 2 Plural for both nouns: bate Third person present verb: bates Variant spelling of bait |
| CAUTION: Even though bate is a variant spelling for bait, you still cannot use baited breath. It should always be bated breath. | |
| Noun: Food used to entice fish or animals as prey An allurement, a thing intended to tempt or entice Verb, transitive: Deliberately annoy or taunt someone |
Noun: [British; informal, dated] An angry mood 1 [Tanning] The solution used 2 Verb, intransitive: To flap the wings wildly or frantically To jump violently from a perch or the falconer’s fist, often hanging from the leash while struggling to escape Verb, transitive: Lessen the force or intensity of 3 Moderate To take away Subtract |
| Examples: | |
| Noun: Get the bait on the hook and we can get to fishin’. She took the bait. She rose to the bait. When it comes to flagging brands, companies are being forced to fish or cut bait. Daddy used to dig for worms in the garden for bait. Verb, transitive: I love that commercial where the kid on his skateboard baits his dog with a marshmallow on a stick. The other boys reveled in baiting him about his love of literature. She baited her trap with a short, tight skirt and a cleavage-enhancing knit top. |
Noun: He got into a stinking bate. We’ll need a new batch of bate with all the hides that came in yesterday. Verb, intransitive: He waited with bated breath. Verb, transitive: “To his dying day he bated his breath a little when he told the story.” – George Eliot |
| Derivatives: | |
| Noun: baiter | Imperative: bate |
| History of the Word: | |
| Middle English meaning to stop on a journey to take food or a rest. It’s from the Old Norse beit meaning pasture, food or beita meaning to hunt or chase. |
|
C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!
Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.
Resources for Bait versus Bate
Apple Dictionary.com
Free Dictionary.com: bate
Pinterest Photo Credits
Robin by barbabs is in the public domain, via Pixabay. Worms From Coffee Compost Pile is Shanegenziuk‘s own work and is under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons.
