Burn the midnight oil means to work or study until very late at night. Literally, it means burning lamp oil at midnight, that is, sitting up late by an oil lamp. People usually say it about a busy period before an exam, a deadline or a project launch.
When would you say burn the midnight oil?
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burn the midnight oil (to + verb); be burning the midnight oil (before + event)
- I've been burning the midnight oil all week to finish my thesis.
- The whole team burned the midnight oil before the product launch.
- If you plan your revision properly, you won't need to burn the midnight oil before exams.
What changed
First versionI burned the night oil to prepare for the exam.
RevisionI burned the midnight oil to prepare for the exam.
It is easy to remember this idiom as night oil. But the fixed form is burn the midnight oil, with midnight. Only one word has changed.
Stay up late simply means going to bed late, for any reason: We stayed up late watching films. Burn the midnight oil is only about work or study. In an essay, work late into the night sounds more neutral.
Your turn
The report was due at nine the next morning, so Olga ___ and finished it at 3 a.m.
Show the answer
burned the midnight oil — Olga finished the report at three in the morning, so she worked late into the night: burned the midnight oil. Called it a day means stopped working for the day, and she did the opposite: she kept going.
Remember a time when you had to work or study late into the night. Write what you were preparing for and how late you stayed up.
Before my driving theory test, I burned the midnight oil for three nights and went to bed at about 2 a.m.
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