moondoggle

moondoggle

English

Etymology

Blend of Moon +‎ boondoggle

Noun

moondoggle (plural moondoggles)

1. (US, colloquial, derogatory) Efforts to transport people to the Moon, regarded as a useless waste of resources.
   • 1963, Frank L. Kluckhohn, What's wrong with U. S. foreign policy? (page 9)

     We are virtually abandoning the first Outer Space area through which military attacks may be launched, to spend billions on a nonmilitary moondoggle — the attempt to put a man on the moon.

   • 1971, Thomas P. Murphy, Science, Geopolitics, and Federal Spending (page 372)

     He stated that “as long as James E. Webb is the Administrator of NASA, I am not voting another dollar for this moondoggle. […]

   • 1976, Roger E. Alcaly, ‎David Mermelstein, The Fiscal crisis of American cities (page 170)

     During the years of Vietnam and the moondoggle the balance of Pentagon prime contracts shifted sharply to the Southern Rim, with the percentages mounting every year, […]