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To burn the midnight oil

 
Examples:

Peter:
"Hey, Gerald, look at the bags under your eyes!
have you been burning the midnight oil again?"

Gerald:
"Oh, I'm so tired! I stayed up studying until 2am this morning."

 
Use:

If you burn the midnight oil then you are probably working
or studying very late at night.

In the days before electric lighting many people used oil lamps
and so if you burned the midnight oil you would be up very late.

It's not used to refer to time spent in pubs and discos - that is
definitely not burning the midnight oil!

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