all-night
Americanadjective
-
taking up, extending through, or occurring continually during an entire night; nightlong.
an all-night vigil.
-
open all night, as for business; providing services, accommodations, etc., at all hours of the night.
an all-night restaurant.
Etymology
Origin of all-night
First recorded in 1520–30
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Dutifully but vacantly, he keeps an all-night vigil by her coffin.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 2, 2026
The all-action one-hour episode required 14 all-night filming sessions.
From BBC • Jan. 2, 2026
UCLA, as previously enacted, will allow preapproved overnight events — such as an all-night reading last October of famed Palestinian American author Edward Said’s memoir.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 19, 2025
On the corner of East 4th Street, the all-night fried chicken joint was empty, and the counter man was sitting at one of the tables reading a copy of the News.
From Salon • Dec. 24, 2024
It was a small and shabby all-night café.
From "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" by J.K. Rowling
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
