What is the definition of boondoggle?

Work of little or no value done merely to look busy A boondoggle started out as something young people would do--go away from civilization and have a party. Nowadays, companies have gala events, conventions where just the basic business is taken care of for a tax break, and the rest is partying. An example from recent news would be some of the AIG events for various employees, the Enron extreme adventures and so on. Some companies use these trips as rewards for high producing employees and/or team building experiences.

Websters shows it as a wasteful or impractical project or activity, often including graft.