to work nights
30
2.2
- phrasal verb
:
trabajar de noche
- Folks who work at the post office work nights.
- work nights and weekends
So I was working at Tesco's, the store in London, working nights, stacking frozen food.
- So I was working at Tesco's, the store in London, working nights, stacking frozen food.
- Is that you sacrifice a lot. You sacrifice weekends, working nights. I mean,
- So I'll say this, we worked nights.
Examples
-
I usually work nights.
-
When I was a teen, my dad worked nights in a gas station.
Blog text (6) -
My father worked nights, though.
-
I work nights, like you.
-
When I was a kid, my mom worked nights.
Fiction book (1996) -
His name is Danny, and he works nights and sleeps days.
Fiction book (1996) -
For a time, he worked nights in a bakery, after which he threw himself, exhausted, into bed.
Fiction book (1999) -
At the moment, I work nights and sleep from 8:30 AM to 3:30 PM.
Blog text (11) -
Kendra is Boditexx's chief personifier, and she always works nights.
Fiction book (2002) -
As a paramedic, I work nights to ensure there are always responders available for emergencies.
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'to be employed during nighttime hours' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'work' (to perform job duties) with 'nights' (the nighttime period used adverbially). This verb + time-noun pattern is common in English and other languages, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily infer the intended meaning.
Etymology
Work nights comes from the simple image of doing your work while it is dark at night, like nurses, guards, or factory workers who stay awake and work when most people sleep. That's why it means 'to work during the night'.