To burn the candle at both ends is to exhaust yourself by doing far too much. Burning the candle at both ends, you cannot burn the candle at both ends, burn the candle at both ends for years.
It means late nights and early mornings together, and the image is exact: a candle lit at both ends gives twice the light and lasts half as long. The French original meant wasting money on both sides at once.
1phraseburn the candle at both endsTo exhaust yourself by doing far too much.
“If you work all day and party all night, you'll burn the candle at both ends and get ill.”
burn the candle at both ends is an exhausting.
From French, where the phrase first meant being doubly wasteful; the English sense is about time and energy.
French
brûler la chandelle par les deux bouts
English, today
burn the candle at both ends
French brûler la chandelle par les deux bouts. 18th century, originally in the sense “to be doubly profligate”.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in Mental Health & Wellbeing