Over the course of his life, a person has probably experienced a state hundreds of times that he can characterize with phraseologism “holding his breath”. Especially when the entertainment industry is working to its fullest. Today we consider what this stable expression means and consider synonyms for it.
Origin
Unfortunately, there is no memorable story regarding the origin of the object of research in the Russian language. Probably, people from ancient times noticed: when a person carefully watches something, he holds his breath for a while. Then consciousness simply does not record this extremely important process, but it seems to him that he is not breathing.
Suppose something completely unexpected happens in artistic reality or objective reality. Naturally, we hold our breath for a while, and then what is happening on the screen or in life so absorbs us that we seem to not breathe. But this is only an illusion. Since the source of some phraseological units is the usual everyday observation, it is not unusual that the people’s memory did not preserve a specific reason and history associated with phraseological unit “holding their breath”.
Value
With the meaning of a stable phrase, we are more fortunate, as it is reflected in the dictionary. And as always, observing the accuracy, we turn to the source, which interprets the phraseology we are considering as follows:
- Focused, listening intently; scared.
- With great interest, attention.
It follows clearly from the meaning of the expression: a strong emotion that makes you forget about everything in the world can distract a person from breathing. Its range is extremely wide - starting from joy and ending with fear or grief. Here are a few examples:
- The boy idolized Messi so much that he watched the game of Barcelona with bated breath.
- The film was one of those that you watch with bated breath.
- The lights suddenly turned off in the house, and quiet rustles frightened the guys so much that they watched each sound with bated breath.
And another very important detail: a stable phrase with commas is not allocated precisely because it is phraseological unit. But if there is a germs “with boredom” with other words dependent on him, then the whole revolution stands out. For example, "Kuzmich, holding a grudge against me, spoke through his teeth." These are cunning stable phrases with which you need to be extremely careful.
Viewer and listener
Many people ask, phrase “holding my breath” a synonym which has? We could answer it separately, but we will not do this. And not at all because we are harmful or lazy, but because when it came to meaning, the answer has already been given and repetitions are not needed. It’s better to say what subtlety: the reader noticed or not, but speech circulation is used only when a passive subject is implied.
Simply put, you can’t see anything with bated breath. Phraseologism is suitable only for describing the state of the viewer, listener. But you can not plan with bated breath. In other words, an observer can afford not to breathe, but an actor can not. After all, he is responsible for the result of the work.
Why is that? When a person becomes one big attention, it is difficult for him to control what is happening around him, not to mention complex activity. By the way, some practical recommendations can be deduced from this. You can’t watch an action movie and cut, for example, a bow: in the movie there can be an amazing scene, and the viewer will drop the knife, carried away by it, and get hurt. For the same reason, you can’t do gymnastics while watching a film, because the effectiveness of training decreases: a person dissolves in artistic reality, and he should concentrate on exercises.
In a word, phraseological unit “holding our breath” is not so simple. All is well on time and to the place. This must be constantly monitored. And in general, you should not do several things at once. After all, with such a strategy you can not succeed in any of them. So, we examined the expression: "Holding your breath." Use this phraseology correctly!