lucubration

American  

[loo-kyoo-brey-shuhn] / ˌlu kyʊˈbreɪ ʃən /

noun

1. laborious work, study, thought, etc., especially at night.

2. the result of such activity, as a learned speech or dissertation.

3. Often lucubrations. any literary effort, especially of a pretentious or solemn nature.

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lucubration British  

/ ˌluːkjʊˈbreɪʃən /

noun

1. laborious study, esp at night

2. (often plural) a solemn literary work

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Etymology

Origin of lucubration

1585–95; < Latin lūcubrātiōn- (stem of lūcubrātiō ) night-work. See lucubrate, -ion

Example Sentences

It is always possible—to the wise man—to refrain from reading the lucubration of the former, but he cannot avoid the latter: which brings me to the main subject of this paper—the Critic on the Hearth.

From Some Private Views by Payn, James

Love—War—a tempest—surely there's variety; Also a seasoning slight of lucubration; A bird's-eye view, too, of that wild, Society; A slight glance thrown on men of every station.

From The Works of Lord Byron. Vol. 6 by Coleridge, Ernest Hartley

In 1845 his famous poem, The Raven, came out, and in 1848 Eureka, a Prose Poem, a pseudo-scientific lucubration.

From A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature by Cousin, John W. (John William)

We may be sure that a pen so abundant and so skilfully exercised was not one to have restricted itself to this solitary lucubration of his life and studies.

From Amenities of Literature Consisting of Sketches and Characters of English Literature by Disraeli, Isaac

Love, war, a tempest—surely there 's variety; Also a seasoning slight of lucubration; A bird's-eye view, too, of that wild, Society; A slight glance thrown on men of every station.

From Don Juan by Byron, George Gordon Byron, Baron