Burn the candle at both ends means wearing yourself out: getting up early, going to bed late and barely resting. A candle lit at both ends burns twice as fast. The late nights can be work, but also rehearsals, parties or studying, so the idiom is about a schedule with no rest, not just about working hard.
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burn the candle at both ends; have been burning the candle at both ends
- With early shifts and late rehearsals, I have been burning the candle at both ends.
- She burned the candle at both ends while preparing the exhibition.
- You cannot keep burning the candle at both ends and expect to feel rested.
What changed
First versionHe is burning the candle at both end during festival week.
RevisionHe is burning the candle at both ends during festival week.
Both already tells you there are two, so end may seem enough. But both always takes a plural noun: both ends, both hands. Add the s, and the candle burns at both ends again.
Burn the midnight oil means staying up late to work or study: only one end, the night. Burn the candle at both ends adds early mornings too, and together that's exhaustion. In an essay, say it neutrally: I was getting very little sleep.
Your turn
Use the idiom for doing too much with little rest: They are burning the candle at ___ ends.
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both — A candle has two ends, so both ends. Every would need a singular noun, and that isn't the idiom.
Describe a week when you got up early and went to bed late. Use burn the candle at both ends.
With deliveries at six and classes until ten, Leo has been burning the candle at both ends.
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