Stay up late working or studying, as in The semester is almost over and we're all burning the midnight oil before exams. This expression alludes to the oil in oil lamps.
Midnight Oil's official music video for 'Beds Are Burning'. Click to listen to Midnight Oil on Spotify: http://smarturl.it/MidnightOilSpotify... As featured on Diesel And Dust. Click to buy the track or album via iTunes: http://smarturl.it/MidnightOilDADiTun... The idiom burning the midnight oil can be traced back at least to 17th century England, and means to work on a project or endeavor through the overnight hours. Before the invention of the electric light, most lamps used for illumination were fueled by oil. Clearly, we no longer have much call for that word and it has fallen out of use. Although it is probably some years since anyone needed to do it in reality the phrase 'burning the midnight oil' is still in everyday use. Home Phrase Dictionary-Meanings and Origins Burning the midnight oil. Browse phrases beginning with: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T UV W XYZ-Full List. Wee spend our mid-day sweat, or mid-night oyle; Wee tyre the night in thought; the day in toyle. Beds Are Burning is a 1987 hit single by Australian rock band Midnight Oil, the first track from their album Diesel and Dust. This song was the second from the album to be released as a single. Fig. to stay up working, especially studying, late at night. (Alludes to working by the light of an oil lamp late in the night.) I have a big exam tomorrow so I'll be burning the midnight oil tonight. If you burn the midnight oil night after night, you'll probably become ill. See also: burn, midnight, oil, the. burn the midnight oil. Stay up late working or studying, as in The semester is almost over and we're all burning the midnight oil before exams. This expression alludes to the oil in oil lamps. To work late into the night. Originally this was by the light of an oil lamp or candle. More recently, the phrase is used figuratively, alluding back its use before electric lighting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejorQVy3m8E http://www.wisegeek.com/what-does-burning-the-midnight-oil-mean.htm http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/80200.html http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/80200.html http://www.last.fm/music/Midnight+Oil/_/Beds+Are+Burning http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/burn+the+midnight+oil http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/burn+the+midnight+oil http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/80200.html
why did we start saying burn the midnight oil