burn the candle at both ends

burn the candle at both ends

English

Alternative forms

• burn one's candle at both ends

Etymology

Calque of French brûler la chandelle par les deux bouts. Popularized through a poem of Edna St. Vincent Millay.[1]

Verb

burn the candle at both ends (third-person singular simple present burns the candle at both ends, present participle burning the candle at both ends, simple past and past participle burned the candle at both ends or burnt the candle at both ends)

1. (idiomatic) To work hard night and day.
   • 1911, Edna Ferber, chapter 8, in Dawn O'Hara, The Girl Who Laughed‎:

     Von Gerhard's face was unsmiling. “So,” he said, slowly. “You burn the candle at both ends. All day you write, is it not so? And at night you come home to write still more? Ach, Kindchen!—Na, we shall change all that. […]

2. To waste something in two directions at once.

Translations

work hard night and day

Arabic: حرق الشمعة من كلتا الجِهَتَين‎ Chinese: Mandarin: 夙興夜寐／夙兴夜寐 (zh) (sùxīngyèmèi) Dutch: please add this translation if you can Esperanto: please add this translation if you can Finnish: polttaa kynttilää molemmista päistä, polttaa kynttiläänsä molemmista päistä French: brûler la chandelle par les deux bouts (fr) Hungarian: két végén égeti a gyertyát Italian: bruciare la candela ad entrambe le estremità Japanese: 過重労働(する) (kajū rōdō (suru)) Korean: please add this translation if you can Polish: pracować od świtu do nocy Portuguese: dar um duro danado, matar-se de trabalhar Russian: рабо́тать на изно́с impf (rabótatʹ na iznós), горе́ть на рабо́те impf (gorétʹ na rabóte) Spanish: quemar la vela por los dos cabos Swedish: bränna sitt ljus i båda ändar Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Chinese: Mandarin: 三更燈火五更雞／三更灯火五更鸡 (sāngēng dēnghuǒ wǔgēng jī) Russian: труди́ться в по́те лица́ impf (trudítʹsja v póte licá), рабо́тать на изно́с impf (rabótatʹ na iznós), рабо́тать не поклада́я рук impf (rabótatʹ ne pokladája ruk), рабо́тать без у́стали impf (rabótatʹ bez ústali)

See also

• burn the midnight oil
• not worth the candle

References

1. Edna St. Vincent Millay (1921), “First Fig”, in A Few Figs from Thistles: “My candle burns at both ends; / It will not last the night;”

Further reading

• “burn the candle at both ends”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• Gary Martin (1997–), “Burn the candle at both ends”, in The Phrase Finder.