carry coals to Newcastle
Superfluous gift-giving
To carry coals to Newcastle is to do something pointlessly redundant—bringing a resource to a place that already has plenty.
Newcastle, England, was historically a major coal-mining center, so transporting coal there would be absurd.
The expression applies to any unnecessary effort: Selling ice to Eskimos is like carrying coals to Newcastle.
- idiomaticCharacteristic of natural speech
- proverbialWidely known from maxims
- gild the lilyEmbellish what's already perfect
- redundancyNeedless duplication
- overkillUnnecessary additional effort
useless · superfluous · wastefulness · unnecessary · fool's errand · Newcastle · futile · pointless · sell snow to Eskimos · expression · coal mining · mining region · preach to the choir · abundance · overprovision · surplus goods · inefficiency · industrial cities
carry coals to Newcastleoptimize
Make maximally effective
streamline · hit the nail on the head · strike while the iron is hot · kill two birds with one stone
carry coals to Newcastlesell ice to Eskimos
Persuade someone who needs nothing
carries, carried, carrying, carrier, carriers, carriage, carriages, newest, renewal