cottage industry

American  

noun

1. the production, for sale, of goods at home, as the making of handicrafts by rural families.

2. any small-scale, loosely organized industry.

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cottage industry British  

noun

1. an industry in which employees work in their own homes, often using their own equipment

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Etymology

Origin of cottage industry

First recorded in 1920–25

Example Sentences

A whole cottage industry has also developed online to advise landlords how to flip rental properties.

From BBC • May 20, 2026

Gorka’s path to the White House began in the cottage industry of self-styled terrorism experts that sprang up after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

From Salon • Apr. 22, 2026

"Yes, I do worry a bit, especially because there's now a whole cottage industry of companies that try to make a big buck and make it even simpler to install OpenClaw," he said.

From Barron's • Mar. 30, 2026

Wartime delays have throttled the vital flow of satellite imagery, while widespread signal interference in the Middle East has left the cottage industry of tanker tracking partially in the dark.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 19, 2026

Daniel and Moses thought they were paying a courtesy call on a cottage industry, but the cottage was a castle.

From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis