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Synonyms

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.”

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]

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

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 tell you, I mean to paint the town red.

From The Everlasting Arms by Hocking, Joseph

They went to the best hotels, and they are living on the fat of the land, but they do not throw money away, and not one started in to paint the town red.

From All about the Klondyke gold mines by Knox, J. Armoy

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

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.