cottage
Americannoun
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a small house, usually of only one story.
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a small, modest house at a lake, mountain resort, etc., owned or rented as a vacation home.
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one of a group of small, separate houses, as for patients at a hospital, guests at a hotel, or students at a boarding school.
noun
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a small simple house, esp in a rural area
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a small house in the country or at a resort, used for holiday purposes
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one of several housing units, as at a hospital, for accommodating people in groups
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slang a public lavatory
Other Word Forms
- cottaged adjective
Etymology
Origin of cottage
1350–1400; Middle English cotage. See cot 2, -age; compare Medieval Latin cotagium, apparently < Anglo-French
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
"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
Pictures show an exterior that conjures up images of a fairy-tale cottage hidden away among the trees, while the interior is a vibrant rainbow of colors, textures, and decor.
From MarketWatch • Mar. 17, 2026
The victim was staying at a holiday cottage near to Williams's racehorse training centre.
From BBC • Mar. 9, 2026
Leah, Maggie, Kate, and some female supporters crowded into the cottage, watching the men work and waiting for evidence of the peddler’s body.
From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
