keep someone up late

verb

To prevent a person from going to bed at their usual time.

Meanings

verbkeep someone up late (third-person singular simple present keeps someone up late, present participle keeping someone up late, simple past and past participle kept someone up late)

present singular third person keeps someone up late · participle present keeping someone up late · participle past kept someone up late · past kept someone up late

  1. To prevent a person from going to bed at their usual time.
    1 more example

    Few political careers start when people are in their 70s, but Hendy is actually relishing it, although he is incensed sometimes by the pointlessness of the posturing by the opposition, which keeps him up late. "The bit I don't like is getting home at 0100 or 0200 in the morning because the opposition have been fruitlessly arguing for a long time."

    2025 October 1, Christian Wolmar, “Rail Minister at the heart of rail reform”, in RAIL, number 1045, page 35
Cite this entry
APA

keep someone up late. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/keep%20someone%20up%20late

MLA

“keep someone up late.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/keep%20someone%20up%20late. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “keep someone up late,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/keep%20someone%20up%20late.

Source: keep someone up late on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.