cottage industry

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.

cottage industry

noun

1. an industry in which employees work in their own homes, often using their own equipment

Word History and Origins

Origin of cottage industry¹

First recorded in 1920–25

Example Sentences

Proposition 65, they say, has resulted in a cottage industry of so-called bounty hunters that target California companies for payouts.

From Los Angeles Times

This is what we inflict on each other — if not literally, then through the morbid fascination that’s led to an entire cottage industry of exploiting the worst crimes against humanity.

From Los Angeles Times

The bloody killing of pregnant actor Sharon Tate and others over two days by members of a cult headed by Charles Manson has sparked its own cottage industry of books and films, including Quentin Taratino’s “Once Upon A Time ... In Hollywood.’

From Los Angeles Times

Authoritarian politics seem to have been a cottage industry for the Lindbergh clan.

From Salon

Ever since, there has been a cottage industry of conservative academics writing books and essays supporting Strauss, which almost invariably receive laudatory notices in right-wing vehicles like National Review or the Claremont Institute.

From Salon