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

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

hot cockles

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 Harrison S. (Harrison Smith) Morris

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 Honoré de Balzac

"Lord Surrey and Lord Leicester sound fine, but hot cockles, and red mittens, and shoes for three shillings, are horrid."

From An Old-Fashioned Girl by Louisa May Alcott

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

From An Old-Fashioned Girl by Louisa May Alcott

"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 William Francis Dawson

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