to burn the midnight oil
6
5.1
- idiom
- Informal
:
trasnochar
- With a big project due tomorrow, I will have to burn the midnight oil tonight.
- got to burn the midnight oil
And don't represent the work of a lone scientist burning the midnight oil.
- And don't represent the work of a lone scientist burning the midnight oil.
- And I was burning the midnight oil and, you know, and the team was, and, and then you lose a team because they're burnt out and, you know, that's, you know, terrible.
Examples
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I have so much catching up to do that I'm burning the midnight oil.
Fiction book (1992) -
If you are a driven person, there are going to be times you need to burn the midnight oil to accomplish something.
Blog text (34) -
You are going to be burning the midnight oil for months.
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We're burning the midnight oil.
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Therefore, we will be burning the midnight oil this next week!
Blog text (13) -
Tonight, the president and his top advisers will burn the midnight oil.
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Robert is burning the midnight oil in the study with files all around him.
Fiction book (1998) -
You're burning the midnight oil, Agent Moretti.
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Mitchell, as played by Evans, is part saint, part debonair scoundrel, forever burning the midnight oil to get the real story out.
Blog text (1) -
Within the firm—now known as Davis, Graham & Stubbs—White was legendary for burning the midnight oil.
Academic text (1993)
Synonyms
4
7.2
To work late at night and early in the morning so you become very tired
1
6.3
Work hard for a long time on something, often before an exam or deadline
Antonyms
How Late
- Informal
6
5.1
- Informal
253
2.4
Surface Forms
Morphology
The words 'burn' + 'midnight' + 'oil' literally evoke using oil lamps at midnight, so a learner can likely infer a sense of staying up late; however the conventionalized meaning 'to work or study late into the night' is a metaphorical extension tied to historical/cultural practice and is not fully predictable from the parts alone. Because the connection is partly inferable but requires idiomatic knowledge for the precise sense, it is best classified as semi-transparent.
Etymology
Burn the midnight oil comes from a time before electric lights, when people used oil lamps and would literally burn oil to keep working late at night. That's why it means 'to work or study late into the night'.