💼 “burn the midnight oil”

What it means: To work or study late into the night.

“She was burning the midnight oil before finals.”

Where it comes from

From lamp oil: before gas and electric light, late work literally cost oil. In print by the 1600s.

← back to the drawing board · all work & money idioms · pay through the nose →

the bottom linebe in the redback to the drawing boardpay through the nosego the extra mile

More phrases, including proverbs from dozens of languages, at Proverbs of the World.