carry coals to Newcastle

verb

Etymology

Newcastle upon Tyne (in England) was a major coal-exporting city, so sending coal there would be pointless.

Definitions

  1. To do something that is unneeded or redundant.

    • He's the fellow who likes to let off stink bombs in night clubs, which rather falls under the head of carrying coals to Newcastle […]

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for carry coals to Newcastle. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA