to splash some paint
1
4.2
- phrasal verb
- Informal
:
dar brochazos
- It's like paintings; if someone throws some paint on a canvas, there is always someone trying to explain the meaning behind the painting and why it is so great.
- splash some paint around
Examples
-
Just clean it up a little bit, splash some paint around.
-
You think you can just splash up some paint and rearrange the furniture, and everything will be all right.
-
Just clean it up a little bit, splash some paint around.
-
Several times I told him to pick up a brush and push some paint around a canvas.
Fiction book (2001) -
You think you can just splash up some paint and rearrange the furniture, and everything will be all right.
-
I squeezed out some paint, found my finest brush, and lost myself in my art.
Fiction book (1996) -
"Well, p253 from where I'm standing, it's sorely in need of a broom and some paint.
Fiction book (1997) -
I'm going to knock these sticks together, bang bang bang, slap on some paint, brush brush brush, and then Paul and I can head to the Mayan Riviera.
-
To refresh the old furniture, she decided to splash some paint on it for a new look.
-
He plans to splash some paint on the walls to brighten up the room before the party.
Synonyms
16
4.1
To put patches of color on a surface
11
2.8
To touch or apply something lightly and quickly with your hand
6
4.5
Put on paint or cream quickly and without care
To paint quickly in a messy, uneven way
To spread paint on a surface in a messy, uneven way
Antonyms
How Carefully
8
3.8
854
1.0
11
2.8
- Informal
1
4.2
- Informal
6
4.5
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly built from the constituents: 'splash' (to scatter liquid in drops) applied to 'paint' yields the sense of applying paint in a quick or messy way, and 'some' simply marks an unspecified amount. This compositional pattern is literal and cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows the words would readily infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
Splash some paint comes from the literal act of splashing paint, where someone throws or drops paint so it makes big drops or streaks on the surface. So to splash some paint means to put paint on something in a 'quick' or 'casual' way, not in a careful or precise way.