# burn the midnight oil

Pronunciation: say "burn thuh mid-nyt OYL" US /ˌbɝn ðə ˌmɪdnaɪt ˈɔɪl/, UK /ˌbɜːn ðə ˌmɪdnaɪt ˈɔɪl/

## Idiom

1. To work or study hard until late into the night.
   - Simple: To stay up very late at night to work hard or study.
   - _The accountants burned the midnight oil all week to close the quarterly books._
   - _If you want to pass the bar exam, expect to burn the midnight oil for months._

## Origin

The phrase originally referred to burning lamp oil in oil lamps for light at night. The collocation 'midnight oil' in its literal sense is attested from the mid 17th century.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/burn-the-midnight-oil (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).