cockle

[kok-uh l]

noun

any bivalve mollusk of the genus Cardium, having somewhat heart-shaped, radially ribbed valves, especially C. edule, the common edible species of Europe.

any of various allied or similar mollusks.

cockleshell(defs 1, 2).

a wrinkle; pucker: a cockle in fabric.

a small, crisp candy of sugar and flour, bearing a motto.

verb (used without object), cock·led, cock·ling.

to contract into wrinkles; pucker: This paper cockles easily.

to rise in short, irregular waves; ripple: The waves cockled along the shore.

verb (used with object), cock·led, cock·ling.

to cause to wrinkle, pucker, or ripple: The wind cockled the water.

Idioms

cockles of one's heart, the depths of one's emotions or feelings: The happy family scene warmed the cockles of his heart.

Origin of cockle

1350–1400; Middle English cokille < Middle French coqille < Vulgar Latin *cocchīlia, Latin conchylia, plural of conchȳlium < Greek konchȳ́lion, equivalent to konchȳ́l(ē) mussel + -ion diminutive suffix; compare Old English -cocc, in sǣ-cocc literally, sea-cockle < Vulgar Latin *coccus for Latin concha conch

cockle

[kok-uh l]

noun

a weed, as the darnel Lolium temulentum, or rye grass, L. perenne.

Origin of cockle

before 1000; Middle English; Old English coccel

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for cockles

ripple, mollusk, wrinkle, pucker, bivalve

Examples from the Web for cockles

Contemporary Examples of cockles

For doing so, I was likened in comments to Josef Mengele, a comparison that warmed the cockles of my gay, half-Jewish heart.
Predator Doctors Take Advantage of Patients With ‘Chronic Lyme’ Scam
Russell Saunders
September 19, 2014

Historical Examples of cockles

Your flesh has never been made to creep: but the cockles of your heart have been warmed.
De Libris: Prose and Verse
Austin Dobson
There are also in some places great store of mussels and cockles.
The Bounty of the Chesapeake
James Wharton
I've got something on hand that'll warm the cockles of your heart.
A Pirate of Parts
Richard Neville
They feed upon a few fish, cockles, mussels, and periwinkles.
History of Australia and New Zealand
Alexander Sutherland
He had a greeting from the fans that warmed the cockles of his heart.
Baseball Joe in the World Series
Lester Chadwick

British Dictionary definitions for cockles

cockle

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

any of certain similar or related molluscs

short for cockleshell (def. 1)

a wrinkle or puckering, as in cloth or paper

a small furnace or stove

cockles of one's heart one's deepest feelings (esp in the phrase warm the cockles of one's heart)

verb

to contract or cause to contract into wrinkles

Word Origin for cockle

C14: from Old French coquille shell, from Latin conchӯlium shellfish, from Greek konkhulion, diminutive of konkhule mussel; see conch

cockle

noun

any of several plants, esp the corn cockle, that grow as weeds in cornfields

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for cockles

cockle

n.1

type of mollusk, early 14c., from Old French coquille (13c.) "scallop, scallop shell; mother of pearl; a kind of hat," altered (by influence of coque "shell") from Vulgar Latin *conchilia, from Latin conchylium "mussel, shellfish," from Greek konkhylion "little shellfish," from konkhe "mussel, conch." Phrase cockles of the heart (1660s) is perhaps from similar shape, or from Latin corculum, diminutive of cor "heart."

cockle

n.2

flowering weed that grows in wheat fields, Old English coccel "darnel," used in Middle English to translate the Bible word now usually given as tares (see tare (n.1)). It is in no other Germanic language and may be from a diminutive of Latin coccus "grain, berry."