What does ‘paint the town red’ mean?
To “paint the town red” means to celebrate wildly, especially in public. A late 19th-century American idiom whose origin is uncertain; a folk story attributes it to the Marquess of Waterford's drunken exploits in Melton Mowbray in 1837, but the connection is not firm.
Origin
- A late 19th-century American idiom whose origin is uncertain; a folk story attributes it to the Marquess of Waterford's drunken exploits in Melton Mowbray in 1837, but the connection is not firm.
How to use it
- Common in celebration talk.
- Example: We're going to paint the town red tonight.
Source:
Last verified: 2026-07-18
- Definitions and origins are drawn from public-domain reference works, primarily Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898), with modern usage notes clearly marked.