cottage industry

/ˌˈkɑdɪdʒ ˌɪndəstri/

Other forms: cottage industries

A cottage industry is a small business run out of a person's home. If you make hand-dipped beeswax candles and sell them online, that's a cottage industry.

Before the Industrial Revolution, cottage industries made goods that were sold by a manager who oversaw the work of many individual households. The name comes from the work being done at home, in a house or cottage. In many countries today, these tiny businesses still support entire families. The vast majority of the handmade goods, clothing, and traditional crafts you might see at a flea market are the products of a cottage industry.

Definitions of cottage industry

1. noun

   small-scale industry that can be carried on at home by family members using their own equipment
   type of:

   industry, manufacture

   the organized action of making of goods and services for sale