hot cockles

American  

noun

1. a children's game in which a blindfolded player is hit by one of the other players and then tries to guess which one did the hitting.

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hot cockles British  

noun

1. (functioning as singular) (formerly) a children's game in which one blindfolded player has to guess which other player has hit him

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Etymology

Origin of hot cockles

First recorded in 1540–50

Example Sentences

The evening closed with hot cockles, after which Esther took possession of the children, declaring, with more earnestness than was her wont, that they must and should not stay up another minute.

From Robin Tremayne A Story of the Marian Persecution by Holt, Emily Sarah

"Thus at active games, and gambols of hot cockles, shooing the wild mare, and the like harmless sports, some part of the tedious night was spent."

From Christmas: Its Origin and Associations Together with Its Historical Events and Festive Celebrations During Nineteen Centuries by Dawson, William Francis

I played at hot cockles, last night, at my Lord of Leicester's.

From An Old-Fashioned Girl by Alcott, Louisa May

And when that's spent the day We'll Christmas gambols play, At hot cockles beside And then go to all-hide, With many other pretty toys, Men, women, youths, maids, girls, and boys.

From In The Yule-Log Glow—Book 3 Christmas Poems from 'round the World by Morris, Harrison S. (Harrison Smith)

But to himself he said, "They are burning"—an allusion to the game of hot cockles, which is indeed a childlike symbol of the dreadful struggle between justice and the criminal.

From Scenes from a Courtesan's Life by Balzac, Honoré de