burn the midnight oil

English

Etymology

Originally referring to the act of burning oil in lamps for light and safety. The noun midnight oil is attested from mid 17th c.

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Verb

burn the midnight oil (third-person singular simple present burns the midnight oil, present participle burning the midnight oil, simple past and past participle burned the midnight oil or burnt the midnight oil)

1. (idiomatic) To work studiously, especially late into the night.

   He was burning the midnight oil to finish his paper.

   She was burning the midnight oil to finish her part of the project.

   • 2013, Phil Cousineau, Burning the Midnight Oil: Illuminating Words for the Long Night's Journey Into Day‎^[1], Simon and Schuster, →ISBN:

     You worked at whatever task you were engaged in — churning out steel nuts for the car companies or churning out essays in college — until you were done, even if you had to burn the midnight oil. No excuses, no whining, no cheating.

Synonyms

• elucubrate
• pull an all-nighter

Related terms

• candlewasting

Translations

work through the night

• Arabic: أشعل فانوس الليل
• Catalan: cremar-se les celles
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 開夜車／开夜车 (zh) (kāi yèchē) ("to drive the night car"), 焚膏繼晷／焚膏继晷 (zh) (féngāojìguǐ), 挑燈夜戰／挑灯夜战 (zh) (tiǎodēngyèzhàn)

• Czech: pracovat dlouho do noci, ponocovat (cs), pracovat dnem i nocí
• Dutch: tot laat in de nacht werken, het nachtje doordoen
• Finnish: valvoa yötä myöten
• French: travailler tard le soir, bûcher (fr)
• German: bis spät in die Nacht arbeiten, die Nacht zum Tage machen
• Hebrew: לילה לבן (he) m or m pl or f or f pl
• Hungarian: késő éjszakáig tanul, éjjel-nappal tanul, éjszakázik (hu)
• Italian: fare le ore piccole, passare la notte in bianco
• Japanese: 徹夜する (ja) (tetsuya suru)
• Latin: lūcūbrō
• Latvian: strādāt pa naktīm
• Polish: pracować po nocach (work at night(s)), zarywać nocki
• Portuguese: passar a noite em claro, virar a noite, fazer uma direta
• Russian: полуно́чничать (ru) impf (polunóčničatʹ), засиж́иваться (ru) impf (zasiž́ivatʹsja) (e.g. "до по́здней но́чи")
• Slovak: pracovať dlho do noci, pracovať vo dne v noci
• Spanish: hacer días y noches, quemarse las pestañas (es)
• Swedish: dygna (sv), låta flitens lampa lysa

See also

• burn the candle at both ends