cottage Summary and Overview

(1.) A booth in a vineyard (Isa. 1:8); a temporary shed covered with leaves or straw to shelter the watchman that kept the garden. These were slight fabrics, and were removed when no longer needed, or were left to be blown down in winter (Job 27:18). (2.) A lodging-place (rendered "lodge" in Isa. 1:8); a slighter structure than the "booth," as the cucumber patch is more temporary than a vineyard (Isa. 24:20). It denotes a frail structure of boughs supported on a few poles, which is still in use in the East, or a hammock suspended between trees, in which the watchman was accustomed to sleep during summer. (3.) In Zeph. 2:6 it is the rendering of the Hebrew "keroth", which some suppose to denote rather "pits" (R.V. marg., "caves") or "wells of water," such as shepherds would sink.

COT'TAGE . Isa 24:20. The same with tent or garden-hut. COTTON is now grown in Syria and Palestine, and is preferred to linen for turbans and shirts. But there is no proof that the ancient Hebrews knew anything about it. The word occurs only in Esth 1:6, where the A.V. renders "green."