burn the midnight oil
work late into the night
In Spanish
quemarse las pestañas, trabajar hasta tarde
Examples
- She's been burning the midnight oil to finish her dissertation.
- The team had to burn the midnight oil to meet the deadline.
- If you keep burning the midnight oil, you'll end up exhausted by the weekend.
When it's used
This idiom is used to describe situations where someone is working late into the night, typically to meet a deadline or fulfill an obligation. It is common in informal contexts, especially in academic or work settings. It is not formal, but it is widely understood by native speakers.
The common mistake
A common mistake is to translate the idiom literally from Spanish as 'burn the eyelashes', which makes no sense in English. Additionally, Spanish speakers sometimes use 'burning' incorrectly in verb tenses, such as 'she burns the midnight oil yesterday', instead of 'she was burning'.