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

Then he took a job working the graveyard shift as a truck driver at the port.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 10, 2024

Faye works the graveyard shift at a hectic Florida hospital.

From Slate • Dec. 13, 2023

Another stays until midnight, when a fourth man takes the graveyard shift, posting himself outside Lincoln’s bedroom or following the president through the White House when he cannot sleep.

From "Lincoln's Last Days: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever" by Bill O'Reilly