cockle
1 Americannoun
-
any bivalve mollusk of the genus Cardium, having somewhat heart-shaped, radially ribbed valves, especially C. edule, the common edible species of Europe.
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any of various allied or similar mollusks.
-
a cockle in fabric.
-
a small, crisp candy of sugar and flour, bearing a motto.
verb (used without object)
-
cockles,
present (3rd person singular)
-
cockled,
past participle, past
-
cockling
present participle
verb (used with object)
-
cockles,
present (3rd person singular)
-
cockled,
past participle, past
-
cockling
present participle
idioms
noun
noun
-
any sand-burrowing bivalve mollusc of the family Cardiidae, esp Cardium edule ( edible cockle ) of Europe, typically having a rounded shell with radiating ribs
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any of certain similar or related molluscs
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short for cockleshell
-
a wrinkle or puckering, as in cloth or paper
-
a small furnace or stove
-
one's deepest feelings (esp in the phrase warm the cockles of one's heart )
verb
noun
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
cocklesimple
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cocklessimple
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have cockledperfect
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has cockledperfect
-
am cocklingprogressive
-
are cocklingprogressive
-
is cocklingprogressive
-
have been cocklingperfect progressive
-
has been cocklingperfect progressive
Past
-
cockledsimple
-
had cockledperfect
-
was cocklingprogressive
-
were cocklingprogressive
-
had been cocklingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of cockle1
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English cokel, cokil(le), from Old French coquille, “shell, shell of a mollusk, mollusk,” from Vulgar Latin cocchīlia (unattested), from Latin conchylia, plural of conchȳlium, from Greek konchȳ́lion, equivalent to konchȳ́l(ē) “mussel, cockle” + -ion diminutive suffix; compare Old English -cocc in sǣ-cocc literally, “sea-cockle” from Vulgar Latin coccus (unattested) for Latin concha conch
Origin of cockle2
First recorded before 1000; Middle English cok(k)el, Old English coccel; further origin uncertain; perhaps from Late Latin cocculus (unattested), diminutive of coccus “berry, seed” ( see coccus ( def. ))
Vocabulary lists containing cockle
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Scallop on a cauliflower purée bed and cockle popcorn and chorizo crumb.
From BBC ● Sep. 9, 2023
She hopes new cockle research will help explain how changing ocean acidity and marine heat affect the transmission or lethal effects of the cancer, and offer methods to protect other native shellfish.
From Seattle Times ● May 22, 2023
“This tells us that all of those nearly identical cancers came from a single cockle in the past,” Metzger said.
From Seattle Times ● May 22, 2023
Shell Beach is made up of billions of shells, specifically cockle shells that breed unchecked due to the high salinity of the water and the lack of predators able to survive in all that salt.
From The Guardian ● Dec. 23, 2017
It does not take one of the whelk family long to bore a hole in the centre of the cockle shell.
From Beautiful Shells of New Zealand An Illustrated Work for Amateur Collectors of New Zealand Marine Shells, with Directions for Collecting and Cleaning them by E. G. B. Moss
The cold-natured among us can warm their cockles with the heated steering wheel, heated front and rear seats and radiant leg warmers built into the Touring package.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 19, 2026
And the vision of Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought or, indeed, Elon Musk being frog-marched off to the hoosegow will warm the cockles of many a heart.
From Slate ● Feb. 13, 2025
To maintain this close bond, heart cockles have mastered the art of indoor gardening, directing light to their otherwise dark interiors.
From Science Daily ● Dec. 2, 2024
"But there's certain things we do in Wales brilliantly like cockles, oysters, lamb, chorizo and Welsh whisky - and they signposted me to dishes I could try or ingredients I could use in dishes."
From BBC ● Sep. 9, 2023
Then as now, the Northwest Coast, thick with fruit and fruits de mer, was a gatherer’s paradise: wild strawberries, wild blueberries, soapberries, huckleberries, thimbleberries, salmonberries; clams, cockles, mussels, oysters; flounder, hake, salmon.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
Even in the bedroom there were embroidered pin-cushions, landscapes in cross-stitch, and crosses in folded paper, so elaborately cockled as to show the senseless labor they had cost.
From The Commission in Lunacy by Honoré de Balzac
Love's feeling is more soft and sensible Than are the tender horns of cockled snails.
From Home Pastimes; or Tableaux Vivants by James H. Head
Only a comparatively light pressure should be given, or the lining up of the headbands or back will become cockled and detached.
From Bookbinding, and the Care of Books A handbook for Amateurs, Bookbinders & Librarians by Noel Rooke
Gay writes: "Showers soon drench the camblet's cockled grain."
From The Journal to Stella by Jonathan Swift
She had a very sweet, kind face, all cockled with wrinkles like a sheet of crumpled tissue paper, but very beautiful in its age.
From The Dictator by Justin McCarthy
It is 10 years since the Morecambe Bay cockling tragedy when the notorious tides and channels claimed the lives of 23 Chinese cockle workers.
From BBC ● Feb. 3, 2014
Why should she pretend not to know a friend—least of all when she’d been cockling?
From Pixie O'Shaughnessy by William H. C. Groome
Here was another hair's breadth escape; for it was nearly high water, and there ran a short cockling sea, which if the ship had struck, must very soon have bulged her.
From Narrative of the Voyages Round the World, Performed by Captain James Cook : with an Account of His Life During the Previous and Intervening Periods by Andrew Kippis
This makes a joint free of cockling, and when dry the inking can be completed across the joint.
From How to Observe in Archaeology by Various
I thought all this, and I believe my companions had very similar thoughts as we danced up and down on the short cockling sea.
From Devon Boys A Tale of the North Shore by Gordon Browne
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