First recorded in 1965–70
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
After getting out a few cans of spray paint, something drew him to the manhole cover in the street.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 26, 2025
I mean, everywhere — there’s got to be a spray paint shortage at this point.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 11, 2025
Tim Speers, 39, is alleged to have been found with spray paint, super glue and red boiler suits at the Daylesford Estate in Gloucestershire on 29 July 2022.
From BBC ● Feb. 3, 2025
Some residents from the area confirm those details and have posted images of similar messages written on trees and walls with spray paint in the area near the property in question.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 27, 2025
She just smiled and leisurely pulled out the spray paint.
From "Paper Towns" by John Green
The foundation sought to recruit Muslims to spray-paint "sacred graffiti" in the UK.
From BBC ● Jun. 15, 2026
There’s trees that they climbed … and I let them spray-paint the fences.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 7, 2026
And unlike decades ago — when Ramos had to sneak around in darkness to spray-paint his nickname in large, block letters all over the city and surrounding areas — this time it was fully permissible.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 24, 2025
“Now, if they go out and they spray-paint a private jet in an airport in Europe, is that going to get those results? In my opinion, no.”
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 27, 2023
One of the first things Kelley did was spray-paint over the Red Cross on his helicopter.
From "Boots on the Ground: America's War in Vietnam" by Elizabeth Partridge
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.
