cottage

American  

[kot-ij] / ˈkɒt ɪdʒ /

noun

1. a small house, usually of only one story.

2. a small, modest house at a lake, mountain resort, etc., owned or rented as a vacation home.

3. one of a group of small, separate houses, as for patients at a hospital, guests at a hotel, or students at a boarding school.

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cottage British  

/ ˈkɒtɪdʒ /

noun

1. a small simple house, esp in a rural area

2. a small house in the country or at a resort, used for holiday purposes

3. one of several housing units, as at a hospital, for accommodating people in groups

4. slang a public lavatory

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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

There’s a whole cottage industry dedicated to determining which 15- and 16-year-olds are going to turn into the best football players in college, but every year someone extraordinary falls through the cracks.

From The Wall Street Journal

Everyone has their own traditions at Christmas, with some people booking out a cottage in Pembrokeshire or going abroad to dodge the cold weather.

From BBC

Preparing for the test is sufficiently daunting that it has spawned a cottage industry of specialized agencies that help AI companies pass, much like preparing for an SAT exam, people familiar with the matter said.

From The Wall Street Journal

So much has been written about “Heat” that individual scenes have become cottage industries.

From Los Angeles Times

The problem was that when the beach cottage sold, I became the executor of the proceeds for my brother.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• bungalow
• cabin
• chalet
• home
• hut
• lean-to
• lodge
• ranch
• shack
• shanty