Skip to main content
all night

all night

1.0
During the whole night from evening until morning
  • idiom
translation icon : toda la noche
  • We'll all take turns keeping watch all night.
  • stay up all night
  • be awake all night
  • all night long

But don't stay up all night watching YouTube videos.

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • I could sit here all night with you, buddy.

  • We kept the campfire burning and told stories all night long.

  • Just let it run all night, OK?

  • So if you just stand there like that all night, that would be lovely.

  • Oh, I can do this all night.

  • We're gonna be right in the middle of this storm system all night.

  • Her kitchen lights burned all night long, and the next morning her car was gone.

    Fiction book (1990)
  • I remember how exhausted I was, having been up all night writing and then observing.

    Academic text (1994)
  • Well, we can't stay here all night.

  • We could have watched the sky all night, but sleep finally beckoned us.

    Academic text (2006)

Synonyms

overnight
vsall night
195 1.2

For one night

means the whole night from evening until morning
all night long
vsall night
117 1.8

During the whole night

is the shorter, simpler phrasing for that same night duration
nightlong
vsall night
3.9

Lasting for the whole night

is expressed as a phrase meaning the same full-night duration

Antonyms

331 1.0

In no way

How Long

all night
1.0
briefly
414 1.0

Surface Forms

all night positive

Morphology

all + night

The meaning 'for the entire duration of the night' is directly compositional from 'all' (the whole/entire) + 'night' (the nightly interval), so the sense is immediately derivable from the constituents. This determiner + temporal noun pattern is cross-linguistically common and follows standard English composition, so a B1 learner who knows both words will understand it.

Etymology

All night paints a clear picture: someone by a lamp staying awake and active from evening until morning. So all night means 'the whole night'.