boondoggle
Look at other dictionaries:
boondoggle — boon‧dog‧gle [ˈbuːnˌdɒgl ǁ ˌdɒːgl] noun [countable] informal an officially organized plan or action that wastes a lot of money: • Opponents say the monorail plan is a boondoggle; projected routes would travel to places that would attract few… … Financial and business terms
Boondoggle — or boon doggle may refer to:* Boondoggle (project), term for a scheme that wastes time and money * Scoubidou, a knotting and plaiting craft known in the U.S. as boondoggle ** Gimp (thread), a type of thread used in making boondoggles and lanyards … Wikipedia
boondoggle — ☆ boondoggle [bo͞on′däg΄əl, bo͞on′dôg΄əl ] n. [orig. dial., ornamental leather strap; modern sense from c. 1935] a trifling or pointless project, expenditure, etc.; now esp., one financed by public funds vi. boondoggled, boondoggling to engage in … English World dictionary
boondoggle — oon dog*gle v. 1. a braided cord made by hand by young scouts, used for various purposes, such as a hat cord or a key chain. 2. a useless, wasteful, or impractical project; especially one authorized by a government agency as a favor to partisans … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
boondoggle — oon dog*gle v. to do useless, wasteful, or trivial work. [WordNet 1.5] … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
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… … Etymology dictionary
boondoggle — [[t]bu͟ːndɒgl[/t]] boondoggles N COUNT (disapproval) People sometimes refer to an official organization or activity as a boondoggle when they think it wastes a lot of time and money and does not achieve much. [AM, INFORMAL] The planned… … English dictionary
boondoggle — [“bundogl] n. a waste of time and money; a project for spending public money. □ Another Washington boondoggle came to light today as investigators revealed plans for a dam in a California canyon that doesn’t have any water. □ This is another… … Dictionary of American slang and colloquial expressions
boondoggle — noun Etymology: coined by Robert H. Link died 1957 American scoutmaster Date: 1929 1. a braided cord worn by Boy Scouts as a neckerchief slide, hatband, or ornament 2. a wasteful or impractical project or activity often involving graft •… … New Collegiate Dictionary
boondoggle — boondoggler, n. /boohn dog euhl, daw geuhl/, n., v., boondoggled, boondoggling. n. 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 … Universalium
