Lucubrate (verb)
Pronunciation: ['lu-kyê-breyt]
Definition: To study long and laboriously, especially at night by lamplight.
Usage: The activity is lucubration (action noun), carried out by a lucubrator (agent noun), who works in lucubratory (adjective) fashion. To emphasize study at night work by lamplight, add the prefix e-: "elucubrate."
Suggested Usage: Today's term is very comfortable in the university, "Buffy has an existentialism exam tomorrow; she faces a long night of concentrated lucubration." Here is an elementary tongue-twister exemplifying today's word: "Alphonse would be graduating this year had he lubricated his late-night lucubrations less." Applications in the business world should not be overlooked: "Building a new business from the bottom up（从上到下） requires frequent lucubration into the wee hours（凌晨） of the morning."
Etymology: Latin lucubrare "work at night by lamplight." The PIE root, *leuk- is behind English "light," Latin lux, lucis "light" and luna "moon," Russian luch' "ray," and Greek leukos "clear, white" and lukhnos "lamp." Of course, all words with luc- referring to light share the same source: "lucid," "elucidate," and with an -m suffix, "illuminate" and "luminary." Lucifer is based on Latin luci- + fer "light-bearer," originally referring to the morning star. "Lynx" comes from Greek lunx, in reference to the animal's shining eyes. "Lunatic" is based on Latin "luna" from the ancient notion that insanity derives from looking at the moon.
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