cottage

[kot-ij]

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.

cottage

/ 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

Other Word Forms

• cottaged adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of cottage¹

1350–1400; Middle English cotage. See cot ², -age; compare Medieval Latin cotagium, apparently < Anglo-French

Word History and Origins

Origin of cottage¹

C14: from _cot ²

Example Sentences

The cash bail lobby loves to portray itself as sort of a cottage industry of mom ‘n’ pop operations devoted to serving the public weal, but that’s false.

From Los Angeles Times

This wealthy Monterey County enclave strictly regulates architecture to maintain the much-vaunted “village character” of a place filled with cottages, courtyards and secret passageways.

From Los Angeles Times

A decentralized, low-cost, flexible cottage industry will likely be transformed into a centralized, high-cost, inflexible cash cow for the merchants of death.

From Salon

Instead, they run their business from commissaries or their home kitchen, making them known as cottage bakers.

From Salon

They are also great for dipping, whether that’s in guacamole, hummus or cottage cheese.

From Salon

Related Words

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