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

The graveyard shift will become the domain of retail investors and specialized firms.

From Barron's

Finally, he took a job as an unarmed security guard in South L.A. working a graveyard shift — at a time when L.A.’s murder rate was sky-high.

From Los Angeles Times

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

He was working the graveyard shift at Harvey Aluminum in Torrance when the melody came to him.

From Los Angeles Times