Green’s Dictionary of Slang

boondoggle n.

[according to the term’s coiner, Robert Marshall: ‘“Boon doggles” is simply a term applied back in the pioneer days to what we call gadgets today.’ The term also referred to the braided leather lanyard worn by scouts (a woggle in the UK) and earlier still to the cowboy term for making saddle trappings out of odds and ends of available leather, something they did when there was no proper work. The 1940s edn of Brewer, Dict. of Phrase and Fable, notes the Scot. boondoggle, a marble given as gift and for which one has not had to make any effort – that ety. was dropped in subsequent editions.]

(US) a waste, of time, of money, of energy, esp. used by US government for a project that is considered to waste tax dollars; thus moondoggle, any form of lunar exploration judged to be a waste of public money.

Show quotations
R. Marshall N.Y. Times 4 Apr. 2: Boon doggles [...] a term applied back in pioneer days to what we call gadgets today [R].
[UK]Northampton Mercury 5 June 3/5: The laest word to be coined is ‘boondoggler.’ It [...] means ‘a creator of electoral goodwill by giving of Federal funds for local projects’.
[UK]Yorks. Eve. Post 2 Oct. 11/3: Boondoggling is a word coined by the Republicans to describe [...] wild or fantastic Government spending.
[US]Chicago Trib. 8 June i. 22/2: The cost of this boondoggle has been estimated at perhaps 50 million dollars [DA].
, [US]Wentworth & Flexner DAS.
[UK]P. Theroux Picture Palace 213: It is related to the grant, the fellowship, the endowment, and every other boondoggle associated with sugar-daddy creativity.
[NZ]K. Dunn Geek Love 9: He had been restless one day, troubled by business boondoggles.
[Can]Ottawa Sun 11 Feb. 14: Truth be told, only one of the jobs fit the Canadian Oxford Dictionary’s definition of a boondoggle, i.e., ‘work of little or no value done merely to appear busy’ and/or ‘a government-funded project with no purpose other than political patronage.’.
[US]J. Ellroy Widespread Panic 249: Forget about this whole damn boondoggle, Jack. We’ll take care of it.