An all-nighter is traditionally a Northern Soul dance party - the 60s equivalent of a rave, where the kids would stay up all night groovin' away and taking lots of amphetamines and dexedrine. All-nighters were big with the Mod scene in London. Unfortunately, the term has become somewhat domesticated. Now the only Mods in sight are the sound modules used to playback that FatBoy Slim track while drinking caffeine, taking cookies and looking at Java beans, instead of being filled with jumping beans.

The infamous all nighter is an integral part of geek life. All nighters are periods of anti-sonism(not sleeping) during which you normally would be sleeping. (Or rather normal people that do sleep would be sleeping) An all nighter is said to be pulled (IE: I pulled an all nighter.). Many geeky (and not so geeky) things are done during all nighters, including programming, making music, talking to girls, hacking code, etc.

In order to participate in one of these events, one must simply stay awake, and do something. Staying awake is often done with the help of stimulants, some legal, some not. Caffeine is a fine example. :)

A term used to describe the act of staying awake throughout the night (sometimes more than 24 hours at a time). Usually, one pulls an all nighter so that they can get a project or report done, or simply because they're having sex. There is no valid reason to pull an all nighter other than these provided. The exception is when you're drunk, because no one knows why they do anything when they're drunk.

Landscape Architecture Students pull all nighters all the time. It's a condition that turns us all into nocturnal beasts, always fighting the bedtime hour. We feel more productive if we sleep less. That makes us good in bed.

There is, of-course, the obvious non-geeky reason for pulling all-nighters, but it's not very impressive. You feel like a real geek if you stay up coding or noding, but if you stay up having sex, you:

• may not feel comfortable explaining why you're tired.
• worse yet, may feel comfortable explaining why you're tired.
• usually won't get paid for it.

The all-nighter is usually associated with projects, exams, or geeking out (as outlined above), but is really not limited to these at all.

Indeed, it is possible for an all-nighter to be undertaken because of boredom, or to create a challenge for the following day. Also, dorm inhabitants may find themselves too lazy to go to sleep - preferring caffeine and company/computers to the hassle of bedtime preperations.

However, these habits tend to lead to mid-day crashes or complete nocturnal activities.