TO CARRY (or SEND) COALS TO NEWCASTLE, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To undertake a work of supererogation; see OWL. [Newcastle is a large coal centre.]

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  1662.  Arsy Versy, x. Stanza [Rump Songs (1874), II., 48].

        So that their fewel upon him to spend,
What was it but COALS TO NEWCASTLE TO SEND?

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  1670.  RAY, Proverbs [BOHN], 154, s.v.

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  1813.  BYRON, Occasional Verses [HENLEY, Works, I. 434], ‘To Lord Thurlow.’

        When COALS TO NEWCASTLE ARE CARRIED,
  And owls sent to Athens, as wonders.

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