adv. [f. prec. + -LY2.] In a breathless manner; with caught or suspended breath; in breathless suspense.
1837. Lytton, Athens, II. 565. Sophocles carries on the passion of the spectators to wait breathlessly the moment when Orestes shall be discovered.
1841. Orderson, Creol., xiii. 131. Ah! he exclaimed breathlessly.
1861. W. Collins, Dead Secr., 238. Looking stedfastly, speechlessly, breathlessly, at her blind husband.