Roll out the red carpet

Posted by ESC on August 09, 2001

In Reply to: Roll out the red carpet posted by Paula K. on August 09, 2001

: Anyone know the meaning/origin of this?
: Thanks.

Roll out the red carpet. This is one of those phrases that I think will be easy to find in the reference books. But it wasn't in any of them. So, I'm going to wing it. It's a literal term referring to the practice of rolling out a red carpet for very important people to walk on. Anyone have more details? Maybe it started with kings so their feet wouldn't have to touch the ground like ordinary folk?

• Red-carpet treatment ESC 08/10/01