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.
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
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
"The Birth of Venus" shows a curling lock of blonde hair tied with lavender ribbon, balanced against a branch of coral which in turn stands on a block of cork and a cockleshell.
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
With such a small cockleshell of a boat, we dared not go out when it was not calm; and with regard to this, I had been duly cautioned by Henry Blew himself.
From The Boy Tar by Edward Read
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
