Many of us are now enduring midterms, the academic equivalent of the hurricane season. One brutal exam follows another until our minds begin fraying at the edges. In order to cope with this trying period, students often resort to lucubration. Many hearty thanks are due to professor George Behlmer for suggesting this word.

According to the American Heritage Dictionary, lucubration is laborious study or meditation, or writing produced by such efforts, especially at night. Essentially, a lucubration is an all-nighter.

The verb form, lucubrate, literally means to “work by artificial light,” originally by lamplight. This makes sense if one examines the word’s Latin root, lucubrare, which comes from lux, Latin for “light.” As a side note, lux sit, or “let there be light” (from Genesis) is the motto of the University of Washington.

The first recorded written example in English can be found in 1595 in The Survey of Popery by Thomas Bell (c. 1551-1610), a fiery Roman Catholic priest turned Protestant polemicist, according to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. The line in question is as follows: “Who haue spared no labour, no watchinges, no lucubrations, to atchieue exact knowledge in the holie scriptures” (sic., note that the “u” in “have” is a “v”). Bell, alias Burton, aided the Catholic underground in Elizabethean England before spectacularly changing his mind and switching sides. He proceeded to aid the English authorities in their supression of Catholicism, writing anti-Catholic tomes in an attempt to solidify his status as a Protestant.

A later example came to be found in 1776 in Edward Gibbon’s epic, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, with this line: “The virtue of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus was … the well-earned harvest of … many a midnight lucubration.” Gibbon (1737-1794) was an English rationalist historian and intellectual known for the broad sweep of his analysis of the Roman Empire (hence the name of his life’s work).

In time, thanks to the likes of men like Gibbon, the definition of lucubration gained an additional meaning as a literary work produced by careful elaboration, according to The Oxford English Dictionary. This meaning was sometimes used in jest to refer to an overcooked book, one that was too elaborate for its own good.

An example of this meaning can be found in 1791 in James Boswell’s The Life of Samuel Johnson LL.D., with the line, “Unconnected fragments of his lucubrations were purposely jumbled together.” In addition to his lively biography of Johnson, the Scottish Boswell (1740-1795) is perhaps best known for his diary, maintained with great zeal throughout his life.

“I find I journalize too tediously. Let me try to abbreviate,” he said. Boswell’s journal entries are known for their observations of dialogue and for their exacting details.

So, the next time you lucubrate, or work through the night on fevered midterm preparations (though I strongly urge you to begin studying before the proverbial last minute arrives in all its dreadful glory), reflect upon the great literary figures of yesteryear, scribbling their lucubrated lucubrations by the flickering light of melting wax tapers (candles).

As we near Valentine’s Day, please feel free to also submit your word suggestions, and until next time, cheers.

[Reach columnist Will Mari at features@thedaily.washington.edu.]