cottage

Etymology

Late Middle English, from Anglo-Norman cotage and Medieval Latin cotagium, from Old Northern French cot, cote (“hut, cottage”) + -age (“surrounding property”), from Proto-Germanic *kutan, *kuta- (“shed”), probably of non-Indo-European origin, possibly borrowed from Uralic; compare Finnish kota (“hut, house”) and Hungarian ház (“house”), both from Proto-Finno-Ugric/Proto-Uralic *kota. However, also compare Dutch and English hut. Old Northern French cote is probably from Old Norse kot (“hut”), cognate of Old English cot of same Proto-Germanic origin. Slang sense “public toilet” from 19th century, due to resemblance.

noun

1. A small house.
2. A seasonal home of any size or stature, a recreational home or a home in a remote location.
   Most cottages in the area were larger and more elaborate than my home.
   Thinks I to myself, “Sol, you're run off your course again. This is a rich man's summer ‘cottage’ and if you don't look out there's likely to be some nice, lively dog taking an interest in your underpinning.” 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 1, in Mr. Pratt's Patients
3. (UK, slang, archaic) A public lavatory.
4. (Polari) A meeting place for homosexual men.

verb

1. To stay at a seasonal home, to go cottaging.
2. (intransitive, Polari, of men) To have homosexual sex in a public lavatory; to practice cottaging.