cockleshell
Americannoun
-
a shell of the cockle.
-
a shell of some other mollusk, as the scallop.
-
Nautical. any light or frail vessel.
noun
-
the shell of the cockle
-
any of the valves of the shells of certain other bivalve molluscs, such as the scallop
-
any small light boat
-
a badge worn by pilgrims
Etymology
Origin of cockleshell
First recorded in 1375–1425, cockleshell is from late Middle English cokille shell. See cockle 1, shell
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.
This grotesquely cast Marco Polo skips like a cockleshell over the surface of Marco's famed Munchausenish travel tale, comes at length to a cockleshell's finale.
From Time Magazine Archive
In April 1952 he set off north on this cockleshell, with 8 gal. of water and a cheap compass.
From Time Magazine Archive
So sure were these hardy Elizabethans of reaching their goal that they sheathed their cockleshell ships with lead, to protect the timbers from the worms of India.
From Time Magazine Archive
Since the days when cockleshell Phoenician galleys first began to crisscross the Mediterranean, men have made fortunes trading abroad.
From Time Magazine Archive
Before I left I wished them all Godspeed on the dainty journey they were making in their cockleshell.
From One Way Out A Middle-class New-Englander Emigrates to America by William Carleton
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
