boondoggle

[boon-dog-uh l, -daw-guh l] /ˈbunˌdɒg əl, -ˌdɔ gəl/
noun
1.
a product of simple manual skill, as a plaited leather cord for the neck or a knife sheath, made typically by a camper or a scout.
2.
work of little or no value done merely to keep or look busy.
3.
a project funded by the federal government out of political favoritism that is of no real value to the community or the nation.
verb (used with object), boondoggled, boondoggling.
4.
to deceive or attempt to deceive:
to boondoggle investors into a low-interest scheme.
verb (used without object), boondoggled, boondoggling.
5.
to do work of little or no practical value merely to keep or look busy.
Origin
1930-35, Americanism; said to have been coined by R. H. Link, American scoutmaster, as name for def 1
Related forms
boondoggler, noun
Examples from the web for boondoggle
  • Trust me, it's going to be a boondoggle of breathtaking proportions.
  • Construction has been stalled while critics and proponents debated whether the undertaking was a boon or a boondoggle.
  • And, once again, critics insist that the entire project is a costly boondoggle and should be abandoned.
  • But this is also the program that catapulted the word boondoggle into common political usage.
  • If a lawsuit gets filed and on the rare chance this boondoggle is not immediately dismissed, you will be deposed.
  • The vast majority of business travel is a complete boondoggle.
  • Learning how the sun works and what it may be doing in the near future is not a boondoggle.
  • Presumably, the government would have rather kept its billion-dollar boondoggle to itself for another two hundred years.
  • Yes, a high speed rail network is probably a boondoggle.
  • Windmills and solar panels are tomorrow's government boondoggle same as ethanol.
British Dictionary definitions for boondoggle

boondoggle

/ˈbuːnˌdɒɡəl/
verb
1.
(intransitive) to do futile and unnecessary work
noun
2.
a futile and unnecessary project or work
Derived Forms
boondoggler, noun
Word Origin
C20: said to have been coined by R. H. Link, American scoutmaster
Word Origin and History for boondoggle
n.

1935, American English, of uncertain origin, popularized during the New Deal as a contemptuous word for make-work projects for the unemployed. Said to have been a pioneer word for "gadget;" it also was by 1932 a Boy Scout term for a kind of woven braid.

Slang definitions & phrases for boondoggle

boondoggle

noun

: The public's got the idea that this is a boondoggle, a Rube Goldberg

verb

To spend public funds outlandishly or on futile activity

[mid-1930s+; origin uncertain; verb said to be fr the iron-smelting industry, meaning ''make unprofitable attempts to retrieve good iron from slag''; noun found by 1940s meaning ''an ornamental thong made by Boy Scouts'' and suggesting mere make-work]