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Glite Dictionary
to dance the night away

to dance the night away

5 4.4
To spend a long time moving to music until very late at night
  • idiom
  • Informal
translation icon : bailar toda la noche
  • We danced the night away at the wedding, enjoying every moment of the celebration.

Or slow dancing the night away.

Examples

  • Nonetheless, the bride was gorgeous, the groom was smiling, and their family and friends danced the night away.

    Blog text (11)

  • Students danced the night away last Thursday in the University Grill.

    Blog text (4)

  • "Before the world ends, I want to dance the night away."

    Project Almanac (2015)

  • Maybe we'll dance the night away again.

    An Egypt Affair (2023)

  • We'll dance the night away

    Jersey Boys (2014)

  • Then we can come in and dance the night away.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • We have this entire place to ourselves... to dance the night away, and I intend to put it to good use.

    House of the Dead (2003)

  • The district has more great restaurants and coffee shops, as well as fun arcades for those looking to swing a bat, play some video games, or dance the night away in clubs.

    Blog text (29)

  • Each night at parade's end, the participants and spectators alike move on to their respective clubs to dance the night away.

    Academic text (1991)

  • We would like to thank Medley Entertainment, and especially Ritesh Rathod, for bringing smiles to all the dancers' faces as they danced the night away.

    Blog text (32)

Synonyms

to dance all night
vsto dance the night away
9 2.7

To move your body to music without stopping for the whole night at a party

is about spending long time moving to music until very late not nonstop
to rave
vsto dance the night away
3 7.7

Attend an all-night party with loud electronic dance music

is long time moving to music until late not confined to electronic events

Antonyms

to rest
816 1.0

To stop activity to relax or sleep and get energy back

How Long

to dance the night away
  • Informal
5 4.4
to dance
579 1.0

Surface Forms

dance the night away infinitive
danced the night away past
danced the night away past participle
dancing the night away present participle
dances the night away third person singular

Morphology

dance + the + night + away

The meaning 'to spend a long period of time dancing' is directly and transparently built from 'dance' (move rhythmically), 'night' (the nightly interval), and 'away' (indicating continued or ongoing action). This is a common compositional pattern (e.g. 'spend the night dancing' and equivalents in many languages), so a B1 learner who knows the constituents can readily infer the MWE meaning.

Etymology

The idiom dance the night away comes from the simple picture of people who keep dancing through the whole night, so the night seems to be used up by the dancing. So it means 'to spend a long time dancing' or 'to dance until very late'.