in the pink in extremely good health and spirits. informal

☞ Literally, a pink is a plant with sweet-smelling pink or white flowers and slender leaves. In figurative use, the pink came to mean 'a supreme example of something', as in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet: 'I am the very pink of courtesy'. This led to the development of the phrase in the pink of condition, of which in the pink is a shortened version.