sell ice to Eskimos
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
To persuade someone to buy or accept something they do not need
Literally: selling ice to Inuit people
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
The salesman was able to sell ice to Eskimos with his clever pitch
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “sell ice to Eskimos” mean?
To persuade someone to buy or accept something they do not need Literally: selling ice to Inuit people
Is “sell ice to Eskimos” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.