paint the town red
In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.
Meaning · English
Go out and party.
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
Inside, the hotel is comfortably furnished and the hotel bar, which has TV, English videos and video games, provides a lively and popular meeting place before painting the town red!
ROMANTIC comedy about an egotistical TV weatherman who gets caught in a time - warp and decides to paint the town red and indulge his secret fantasies.
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Figurative class: Metaphor (PIE-English corpus, CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31).
Equivalents & related
Common questions
What does “paint the town red” mean?
Go out and party.
Is “paint the town red” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.
What is the closest equivalent?
“đi bão” (Tiếng Việt) — near equivalent.