cottage industry
- noun
- /ˈkɒtɪdʒ ˈɪndəstri/
- The Amish in rural Bloomfield, Iowa, have established many small businesses and cottage industries.
- spawned a cottage industry
- became a cottage industry
- small cottage industry
And I was also fascinated always as a media maker at the cottage industry of the Bulger franchise as a story.
- And I was also fascinated always as a media maker at the cottage industry of the Bulger franchise as a story.
Examples
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The government should also endeavor to set up cottage industries, which will provide middle-level employment for skilled and semi-skilled workers.
Academic text (2007) -
Most sacred images were made by hand; however, they were produced through tiny cottage industries open to all.
Academic text (2010) -
We're talking a cottage industry here.
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Even the criticism and defense of the process seem to have become a cottage industry.
Academic text (1997) -
The same goes for those involved in cottage industries, transportation, and agriculture.
Academic text (1998) -
By the nineteenth century, much of this population was employed in cottage industries.
Academic text (1996) -
An entire cottage industry has emerged with the goal of finding and creating holes in porous firewalls.
Academic text (2010) -
The crafting of terracotta water pots in Pindaya is both a cottage industry and a folk art.
Academic text (2003) -
The lake lays claim to several thriving cottage industries, none so resplendent as silk and cotton weaving.
Academic text (2004) -
My grandmother runs a small cottage industry making handmade soaps from home.
How Big
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'small-scale, home-based business or production' is directly derivable from combining 'cottage' (a small house) with 'industry' (production/business), so a B1 learner who knows both words can infer the concept. This noun-noun compound follows a common compositional pattern and has clear cross-linguistic parallels, making it readily understandable rather than idiomatic.
Etymology
Cottage industry comes from a time when families made goods in their small houses: cottage means a 'small home' and industry means 'work or making things'. That's why the phrase now means a small, home-based business.