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View synonyms for burn the midnight oil

burn the midnight oil

  1. To stay awake late at night to work or study: “Jill has been burning the midnight oil lately; I guess she has a big exam coming up.”


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Idioms and Phrases

Stay up late working or studying, as in The semester is almost over and we're all burning the midnight oil before exams . This expression alludes to the oil in oil lamps. [Early 1600s]

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

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