coals to newcastle

English - English

Definition of coals to newcastle in English English dictionary

A pointless venture, in the sense of sending something to a place where it's made, or where they already have an abundance

No more coals to Newcastle, no more Hoares to Paris.

something brought unnecessarily to an area where the thing is already plentiful (such as taking ice to Antarctica)

Hyphenation

coals to New·cas·tle

Turkish pronunciation

kōlz tı nukäsıl

Pronunciation

/ˈkōlz tə ˈno͞oˌkasəl/ /ˈkoʊlz tə ˈnuːˌkæsəl/

Etymology

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