Any of the heavy manufacturing industries, typically coal-powered and associated with high levels of pollution and outmoded technology (usually in plural); also absol. used attributive, of, pertaining to, or characterized by the smokestack industries, as "smokestack city", "smokestack economy", etc.
Origin
1970s; earliest use found in Business Week.
Definition of smokestack industry in US English:
smokestack industry
noun
US
Any of the heavy manufacturing industries, typically coal-powered and associated with high levels of pollution and outmoded technology (usually in plural); also absol. used attributive, of, pertaining to, or characterized by the smokestack industries, as "smokestack city", "smokestack economy", etc.