coals to Newcastle
Supplying the supplied
Coals to Newcastle describes bringing something to a place that already has plenty of it—a pointless redundancy.
Newcastle, in northeast England, was historically a major coal-mining center.
To carry coals there would be absurdly unnecessary.
The phrase typically appears as carrying coals to Newcastle or like taking coals to Newcastle: Selling ice to Alaskans is coals to Newcastle.
- needlessNot required
- no useWithout purpose or benefit
- surplusAmount exceeding requirement
- superfluityExcessive amount beyond necessity
- waste of timeUnproductive expenditure of hours
excess · unnecessary · redundancy · gilding the lily · bringing · carrying · overkill · pointless · exercise in futility · overflow · futile · wastefulness · delivering · misallocation · transporting · shipping · overproduction · selling ice to Eskimos
coals to Newcastlemanna from heaven
Unexpected divine provision
godsend · lifeline · relief supplies · just what the doctor ordered · relief effort
coals to Newcastlehitting the mark
Achieving intended result
fit for purpose · value-added · reading the room · bang for your buck · sound judgment