Word.ws English Dictionary

burning the midnight oil

burning the midnight oil is the present participle and gerund of burn the midnight oil.

Meaning of burn the midnight oil

Verb

burn the midnight oil (third-person singular simple present burns the midnight oil, present participle burning the midnight oil, simple past and past participle burned the midnight oil or burnt the midnight oil)

  1. (idiomatic) To work studiously, especially late into the night.
    • Near-synonym: pull an all-nighter

Questions about burning the midnight oil

What is burning the midnight oil the present participle and gerund of?
Burning the midnight oil is the present participle and gerund of burn the midnight oil.

Words near burning the midnight oil in the dictionary

  1. burning someone's ass
  2. burning someone's ears
  3. burning that bridge when one comes to it
  4. burning the candle at both ends
  5. burning the coal
  6. burning the midnight oil
  7. burning the roof
  8. burning the water
  9. burning through
  10. burning time
  11. burning times

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: burning the midnight oil (page history and authors); burn the midnight oil (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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