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Day and night

ZJ asks: What's the meaning of "night after night"? Is it the same as "day and night"?

My comments:

Yes, "night after night" is the same in meaning as "day and night".

Both expressions are used to describe things that are happening continuously for a long time. For that matter, they are the same as "day after day", "day in, day out", "day by day" as the case may be.

As the case may be because even though they are all similar in meaning, they are not always interchangeable, each having its own subtleties. That's why things like these are best learned in context, which, in turn, allows you to put them to use correctly. Only when you can put a word to use correctly, can you claim to have had it under your belt. Otherwise, you can't say you've "got it", even if it appears as simple, mundane and harmless as night and day.

Let's take a few examples.

If you have a day job, you may say: "Day after day, I have to do the same things." Yawn.

On the other hand, Yao Ming in America is mostly on nights (NBA games are mostly scheduled in the evening). Therefore, "night after night, he (Yao) has transformed into everything people feared upon his ceremonious arrival four years ago, delivering 30 points and 15 rebounds on nights now as easily as a man walks down his driveway for the morning paper" - The time is Yao, by Adrian Wojnarowski, Yahoo! Sports, November 21, 2006.