adv. [f. prec. + -LY2.] In a breathless manner; with caught or suspended breath; in breathless suspense.

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1837.  Lytton, Athens, II. 565. Sophocles … carries on the passion of the spectators to wait breathlessly the moment when Orestes shall be discovered.

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1841.  Orderson, Creol., xiii. 131. ‘Ah’! he exclaimed breathlessly.

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1861.  W. Collins, Dead Secr., 238. Looking stedfastly, speechlessly, breathlessly, at her blind husband.

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