Idiom
burn the midnight oil
Meaning
To work studiously, especially late into the night.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“She burned the midnight oil to finish the essay.”
“I often burn the midnight oil when I write my new book.”
“Do you burn the midnight oil to study for your driving test?”
“With the deadline tomorrow, the whole team is burning the midnight oil at the office.”
“My brother had to burn the midnight oil to prepare his presentation for the big meeting on Monday morning.”
“The lawyers are burning the midnight oil to review all the legal documents before the trial starts next week.”
“The young parents often burn the midnight oil to catch up on household chores while their newborn baby is finally sleeping soundly.”
“For weeks before the final exams, the students burned the midnight oil, fuelled by coffee and the fear of failing.”
Examples
simple
“She burned the midnight oil to finish the essay.”
“I often burn the midnight oil when I write my new book.”
“Do you burn the midnight oil to study for your driving test?”
contextual
“With the deadline tomorrow, the whole team is burning the midnight oil at the office.”
“My brother had to burn the midnight oil to prepare his presentation for the big meeting on Monday morning.”
“The lawyers are burning the midnight oil to review all the legal documents before the trial starts next week.”
“The young parents often burn the midnight oil to catch up on household chores while their newborn baby is finally sleeping soundly.”
complex
“For weeks before the final exams, the students burned the midnight oil, fuelled by coffee and the fear of failing.”
Origin
The collocation *midnight oil* appears in its literal sense from the mid-17th century, referring to the practice of burning lamp oil to provide light for night-time activities. The phrase preserves the era of the oil lamp, when extending one’s labor beyond the natural light of day required a measurable consumption of fuel.
Key words
Related idioms
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