Quemarse las pestañas
backTo burn one's eyelashes.
to burn the midnight oil; **to burn the midnight oil**; **to study one's heart out**; **to study very hard**; **to spend long nights studying**; **to work late into the night**
Quemarse las pestañas means to study very hard, to burn the midnight oil, to work one's fingers to the bone (mentally), to spend long hours studying, or to work tirelessly at books or documents.
Se pasó todo el verano quemándose las pestañas para aprobar la oposición.
He spent the whole summer burning the midnight oil to pass the civil service exam.
Tendrás que quemarte las pestañas si quieres sacar buena nota.
You'll have to study very hard if you want good grades.
Lleva semanas quemándose las pestañas en la biblioteca.
She's been spending weeks studying late in the library.
Yo me quemé las pestañas para terminar la tesis.
I burned the midnight oil to finish my thesis.
It usually refers to sustained intellectual effort.
- studies for difficult exams
- spends nights preparing for university
- works long hours reading or writing
- devotes enormous effort to learning
- studies with exceptional dedication
The expression dates back to the time when people studied by candlelight or oil lamps.
Reading for hours with one's face close to the flame could literally singe the eyelashes.
The image became a metaphor for long nights of dedicated study and intellectual effort.
Although electric lighting has replaced candles, the idiom remains one of the most common ways of describing intensive studying.
The expression almost always has a positive connotation.
It praises effort, perseverance and discipline rather than intelligence alone.
Teachers, parents and students frequently use it when talking about examinations, university studies or competitive public examinations (oposiciones).
Spanish has several expressions describing great effort in studying:
- Quemarse las pestañas → to burn the midnight oil.
- Hincar los codos → to hit the books.
- Empollar → to cram or study intensely.
- Matarse a estudiar → to study extremely hard.
Among them, quemarse las pestañas is the most literary and picturesque, preserving the image of students reading by candlelight until the flame almost reached their eyelashes.
Do not translate the expression literally.
English speakers would never say:
He burned his eyelashes.
Instead, use expressions such as:
- He burned the midnight oil.
- She studied her heart out.
- They studied very hard.
- He spent long nights studying.
Choose the translation according to whether the emphasis is on studying or simply working late.
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