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

"At least I've read that's how they act when they paint the town red."

From The Moving Picture Girls at Rocky Ranch Or, Great Days Among the Cowboys by Laura Lee Hope

I tell you, I mean to paint the town red.

From The Everlasting Arms by Joseph Hocking

My form is chin close on the 'andle, my 'at set well back on my 'ed, And my spine fairly 'umped to it, CHARLIE, and then carn't I paint the town red?

From Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 102, May 7, 1892 by Various

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