graveyard shift

American  

noun

1. a work shift usually beginning at about midnight and continuing for about eight hours through the early morning hours.

2. those who work this shift.

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graveyard shift British  

noun

1. the working shift between midnight and morning

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Etymology

Origin of graveyard shift

An Americanism dating back to 1905–10

Example Sentences

"We are ghosts on the night shift," says Leandro Cristovao from Angola, who has worked the graveyard shift at a south London market for seven years.

From Barron's • Dec. 19, 2025

Long-time evening anchor Wolf Blitzer was also asked to move to the mornings and, in a certain light, Acosta's potential bump to the graveyard shift can be seen as an accommodation of that.

From Salon • Jan. 17, 2025

I also hadn’t done my hearing any favors by working the graveyard shift at a nightclub during college—eight uninterrupted hours at a stretch of noise exposure that vastly exceeded safe levels.

From Slate • Oct. 20, 2024

The graveyard shift can work for those wired to stay alert deep into the night, said Ilene Rosen, a sleep medicine professor at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

From Seattle Times • Sep. 27, 2023

She grabs my arm outside the Skulls' barracks, where I was heading for a bit of rest before a graveyard shift on the wall.

From "An Ember in the Ashes" by Sabaa Tahir