0 a small business run from home
2 used to talk about a business activity in which there are many individuals or small companies working in ways that are unusual for larger companies:
Ours was essentially the cottage industry, and our artisans still work in their own huts, more or less out of touch with the commercial world.
Out in the country again, going westwards, the cottage industry of weaving is apparent in nearly every cottage one sees.
The cottage industry, so vital for India's existence, has been ruined by incredibly heartless and inhuman processes as described by English witnesses.
Wherever the railroad has penetrated a country it has withered the ancient cottage industries of our land.
The primary objective in this case was to reinvigorate cottage industry by allowing farmers to purchase the materials and equipment necessary for spinning at home.
The idea of a multi-million dollar cottage industry is a contradiction in terms.
The production system was transformed from a cottage industry into a factory system by the early 1910s.
With the transformation of medicine from a cottage industry to an organized enterprise, physicians as well as nurses have become employees.
