verb phrase🎓 English idiom

paint the town red

to go out and celebrate wildly

What it means

To paint the town red means to go out and celebrate or enjoy yourself in a lively, extravagant way, often visiting bars, clubs, or restaurants. It suggests an energetic, possibly wild night out on the town.

Examples

  • After finishing exams, the students went out to paint the town red.
  • Let's paint the town red to celebrate your promotion tonight.
  • On her birthday, they painted the town red until dawn.
  • We rarely go out, but tonight we're going to paint the town red.

Where it comes from

The phrase is often traced to an 1837 escapade in Melton Mowbray, England, where the rowdy Marquess of Waterford and friends literally daubed parts of the town with red paint.

Related idioms

#on cloud nine#the whole shebang#blow your own trumpet#break a leg

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