paint, n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

paint n.

[spec. the colour red]

1. (US) any form of alcohol.

1905		F. Hutchison Philosophy of Johnny the Gent 50: ‘[O]ne o’ them bugs that wants to show everybody how strong he is when he gets his snoot full o’ paint.
1961		W.R. Burnett Conant 98: ‘Sometimes he acts like he’s lost his marbles when he gets full of paint’.

2. (Aus.) jam.

1919		W.H. Downing Digger Dialects 37: paint — Jam.
1925		(con. WWI) Fraser & Gibbons Soldier and Sailor Words 220: Paint: jam.

3. (US tramp) playing cards, usu. the royal cards.

1929		V.W. Saul ‘Vocab. of Bums’ in AS IV:5 343: Paint—Playing cards; especially the picture cards.
1961		J. Scarne Complete Guide to Gambling 687: Paint – a picture card.

4. (Aus.) cheap red wine.

1939		K. Tennant Foveaux 309: Shout you a dose of paint at Jordie’s.
1980		(ref. to 1920s–30s) Hepworth & Hindle Boozing out in Melbourne Pubs 15: Affectionate nicknames for the stuff itself were: scarlet runner, ink, paint.
1983		R. Aven-Bray Ridgey-Didge Oz Jack Lang 39: Paint Wine.

5. (US) ketchup/catsup.

1949

Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).

6. (Aus.) in horse-racing, the painted rails that run round the track.

1996

J. Byrell Lairs, Urgers & Coat-Tuggers 235: Johnson let himself get snookered on the paint.

In compounds

paint job (n.)

(US) one’s skin colour.

1971		(con. 1930s–50s) D. Wells Night People 118: Paint job. Color of skin.
1982		(con. 1970) J.M. Del Vecchio 13th Valley (1983) 405: ‘Fuck Man, an AK round don’t care what color your paint job is.’.
2000		F.X. Toole Rope Burns 3: You will hear that a black fighter was robbed of the fight because of his paint job.

paint-pot (n.)

(US) a heavily made-up woman, thus by stereotype, a prostitute (i.e. a ‘painted woman’).

1856

Life in Boston & N.Y. (Boston, MA) 22 Nov. n.p.: Wha a disgusting sight [...] to see two such old old paint pots in the balcony.

paint remover (n.) (orig. US)

1. cheap, strong whisky or another drink.

1957

C. Himes ‘Spanish Gin’ in Coll. Stories (1990) 397: Ed [...] handed him an eight ounce glass containing a slightly milky liquid. ‘Looks like paint remover,’ he said.

2. strong, bitter coffee.

1944

P. Kendall Dict. Service Sl. n.p.: paint remover . . . coffee.

paint stripper (n.)

an alcoholic drink of inordinate strength and fierceness.

2001		C. Anderson at www.descant.com 17 Nov. 🌐 People come up to you and insist that you try to drink the local [i.e. Ecuadorian] paint stripper.
2002		Union Oct. at www.upsu.net 🌐 Sam had vodka! And we weren’t allowed onto the next pub without a shot each, and it was the cheap vodka as well (u know the, paint stripper). All i can say is eugh!!
2004		P. Blazdell at www.bootsnall.com 🌐 Old jenever is light yellow in colour and has a fairly strong flavour (a bit like paint stripper).

pucker paint (n.)

(US teen) lipstick.

1943

Chicago Trib. Graphic Section 26 Dec. 7/1: Jive Talk [...] Pucker paint — lipstick.

In phrases

dab the paint (v.)

see under dab v.¹

in full paint (adj.)

(Aus.) dressed up.

1901

Bulletin (Sydney) 19 Oct. 13/2: The local civilian swashbucklers, by the way, clad in magnificent uniforms, were ‘taken bad’ to find Mac. wearing not too new mufti and a knockabout felt hat. At Melbourne, also, the local warriors turned up in ‘full paint’ to meet a bored-looking man in blue serge and a pink shirt [...]. Not much of the ‘twopenny colored’ about Macdonald.

up in the paints (adj.) (also up in the paint cards) [gambling jargon paints = high (royal) cards]

(US) a general intensifier; depending on context, extremely old, high, superior etc.

1931		D. Runyon ‘Blood Pressure’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 73: A nervous man [...] with a blood pressure away up in the paint cards must live quietly.
1938		D. Runyon ‘Madame La Gimp’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 247: Up in the paints as regards to age.