BURN THE CANDLE AT BOTH ENDS — Expressões em Inglês

Hoje vamos considerar o uso e significado da expressão TO BURN THE CANDLE AT BOTH ENDS. Obviamente, como expressão, não há como aplicá-la literalmente, o que é comum com expressões idiomáticas. Seu significado é de “desperdiçar energias sem repousar, exaurir as forças, estafar-se...” (GOMES, Luiz Lugani, Novo Dicionário de Expressões Americanas, 2003, pg. 67)

Vejamos um exemplo:

If you burn the candle at both ends it will be bad for your health. [Se você ficar se matando assim, isso vai fazer mal à sua saúde]

Vejamos outros exemplos e definições:

Fig. to work very hard and stay up very late at night. (One end of the candle is work done in the daylight, and the other end is work done at night.) Ex.: No wonder Mary is ill. She has been burning the candle at both ends for a long time. You'll wear out if you keep burning the candle at both ends. (McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw)

To get little sleep or rest because you are busy until late every night and you get up early every morning (usually in continuous tenses) Ex.: She'd been burning the candle at both ends studying for her exams and made herself ill. [Cambridge Dictionary of Idioms]

Outras referências e citações:

…bars and traditional pubs are complimented by a selection of clubs and late night bars for those of you who like to burn the candle at both ends, don? — Life in Maidstone by Paul Serellis / Travel, recreation and leisure community

And, compared to the rest of the UK, we're far more likely to burn the candle at both ends - hitting the sack after 1am in a typical week. Well-read in the bedroom; Sleepless Scots need a good book to help ... — Daily Record (Glasgow, Scotland)

Working within the confines of your family home makes it far too easy to burn the candle at both ends. — Avoid Home Based Business Burnout — Patrick Bankay / Business community