“He burned an oil lamp at midnight.”
Idioms Entry 83 / 1011 60-second read
Burn the Midnight Oil
Work late into the night; work very hard on something.
The comparisoni
“We burned the midnight oil to finish the project.”
The ruleii
¶
BURN THE MIDNIGHT OIL = work late and hard.
Historical reference to oil lamps, but now about overtime work.
Memory aidiii
Remember it like this
Working so late you need artificial light.