graveyard shift

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.

graveyard shift

noun

1. the working shift between midnight and morning

Word History and Origins

Origin of graveyard shift¹

An Americanism dating back to 1905–10

Example Sentences

So there is a small cohort of officers who like it, who opt for the graveyard shift.

From Freakonomics

So when you come out of the academy, go through your field training, you then get assigned to whatever shift needs you, and that’s predominantly the graveyard shift.

From Freakonomics

Some days I was too exhausted after working a graveyard shift to get to class.

From Fortune

A man took the bus home from the graveyard shift, bone-tired but dreaming big dreams for his son.

From The Daily Beast

After several rounds of unemployment he secured—with gratitude—a graveyard shift as a private guard at a nuclear-waste site.

From The Daily Beast

Not once had she hesitated or turned from the beaten trail, but she had gone down after the graveyard shift.

From Project Gutenberg

Another time as the graveyard shift came to the surface the men noticed a peculiar wavering light in the sky.

From Project Gutenberg