paint the town red

Cultural  

1. To go carousing: “Arnie and a few of his buddies drove off in a big car Friday night and really painted the town red.”

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paint the town red Idioms  

1. Go on a spree, as in Whenever they go to New York they want to paint the town red. The precise allusion of this term is disputed. Some believe it refers to setting something on fire; others point to a vague association of the color red with violence. [Late 1800s]

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

paint the town red

Cornhusker Corner is open twelve months a year, seven days a week, serving to paint the town red.

From Time Magazine Archive

Returning to Blida a convinced nationalist, Benkhedda wrote patriotic pamphlets and organized a group to paint the town red with slogans for Algerian independence.

From Time Magazine Archive

I believe I shall have to go back to Brennerstadt with him to paint the town red.

From The Top of the World by Dell, Ethel M. (Ethel May)

Plainly they were advertising the fact that they had come to paint the town red and did not care who knew it.

From A Man Four-Square by Raine, William MacLeod

He's one of them McHulishes whose name in them old history times was enough to whoop up the boys and make 'em paint the town red.

From A Protegee of Jack Hamlin's and Other Stories by Harte, Bret

Related Words

• honor
• laud
• observe
• perform
• praise
• proclaim
• revere