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

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

Strange, considering the medium made true-crime and horror storytelling into a viable cottage industry.

From Salon

Yet it appears instead to have spawned a cottage industry spinning out fresh Epstein conspiracy theories.

From The Wall Street Journal

Microsoft, Amazon and others are planting flags in a new cottage industry as publishers look for additional revenue.

From The Wall Street Journal

There is a cottage industry of “tell-all” media about Kennedy and Bessette’s relationship, much of it powered by the people who have claimed to be close to them.

From The Wall Street Journal