cockleshell
Americannoun
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a shell of the cockle.
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a shell of some other mollusk, as the scallop.
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Nautical. any light or frail vessel.
noun
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the shell of the cockle
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any of the valves of the shells of certain other bivalve molluscs, such as the scallop
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any small light boat
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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.
But their cockleshell boats capsized in the raging surf, and those who tried to swim out with lines were dragged ashore half-drowned.
From Time Magazine Archive
They came from another storm: a 40-knot northeast wind that whipped up ten-foot waves and tossed, the presidential yacht Williamsburg around like a cockleshell under a bathtub faucet.
From Time Magazine Archive
On view in a Manhattan gallery were 27 oils and watercolors, all done in 1952: autumn hillsides, foaming seas and cockleshell boats, apple blossoms, circuses.
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
Why, that cockleshell of a Britain has forty millions!
From The Melting-Pot by Zangwill, Israel
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.
