- Meaning
- This idiom means to overwork or exhaust oneself by living a hectic, unsustainable lifestyle, often by staying up late and rising early or juggling too many tasks. It suggests depleting one’s energy or resources recklessly, with a warning of burnout or collapse.
- Origin
- The phrase comes from 17th-century England, referring to the wasteful practice of lighting a candle at both ends, which burns it faster. It appeared in English via a 1611 translation of a French proverb: ‘To burn the candle at both ends.’ Popularized in the 19th century, it was used by poets like Edna St. Vincent Millay in her 1920 poem ‘First Fig’: ‘My candle burns at both ends.’ Its modern use reflects concerns about work-life balance, especially in urban settings.
- Variants
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- Burning the candle at both ends
- Burn both ends of the candle
- Examples
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- She’s burning the candle at both ends, working two jobs and studying at night.
- Burning the candle at both ends left him exhausted and prone to mistakes.
- You can’t keep burning both ends of the candle—take a break before you crash.
- He burned the candle at both ends during the project, and now he’s on sick leave.
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