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to stay up

to stay up

253 2.4
To be awake later than usual
  • phrasal verb
  • /steɪ ʌp/
  • Informal
translation icon : quedarse despierto
  • It's a night to stay up late.
  • stay up late
  • stay up all night
  • make someone stay up

But she would come home and I would stay up watching SNL.

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Examples

  • I wanted to camp with women, sing with women, stay up late with women.

    Fiction book (1992)
  • Last Saturday, I decided to stay up late to finish my book.

  • When we were on set, we used to just stay up all night long talking.

  • And I remember staying up all night one night writing the report.

  • I had a similar thought in terms of like staying up late and getting work done.

  • Or I can stay up with you, keep you company.

  • And we can stay up all night, just talking for hours.

  • We'll stay up here tonight.

  • Oh my gosh, why did you let me stay up so late last night?

  • I'll stay up with you.

Synonyms

to wait up
vsto stay up
  • Informal
170 3.6

Stay awake at home until someone comes

is about remaining awake without a specific purpose or person in mind
to sit up
vsto stay up
47 1.8

To stay awake late and not go to bed

is about not going to bed at the usual time without implying expectation

Antonyms

1.0

To rest with eyes closed and not be awake

485 1.0

To get into bed to sleep

How Late

to burn the midnight oil
  • Informal
6 5.1
to stay up
  • Informal
253 2.4
to go to bed
485 1.0

Surface Forms

stay up infinitive
stayed up past
stayed up past participle
staying up present participle
stays up third person singular

Morphology

stay + up

The meaning 'to not go to bed / remain awake' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'stay' (to remain) with 'up' (not asleep / out of bed). This verb + particle composition is a common, predictable pattern in English and has clear cross-linguistic parallels, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily understand it.

Etymology

Stay up shows a simple picture: you stay up, still awake and not in bed while others sleep. That's why it means 'to not go to bed' or 'to stay awake later than usual'.