Dictionary

cockle en · NOUN · etymology 1

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈkɒkl̩/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /ˈkɑk(ə)l/ (General-American)

Etymology

From Middle English cokel, cokkel, kokkel, cocle, of uncertain origin. Perhaps a diminutive of Middle English cokke, cok (“cockle”), from Old English cocc (found in sǣcocc (“cockle”)) + -le; or perhaps from Old French coquille, from Vulgar Latin *cocchilia, from conchylia, from Ancient Greek κογχύλιον (konkhúlion), diminutive of κογχύλη (konkhúlē, “mussel”), of Pre-Greek substrate origin.

Meanings

1. Any of various edible European bivalve mollusks, of the family Cardiidae, having heart-shaped shells.
   • His wife, a small woman who walked always on high heels, borrowed Gerhardie's primus stove several times a day to cook her husband gargantuan meals of cockles, mussels, snails, and other such unpalatables. 1990, Dido Davies, Andrew Davies, William Gerhardie: A Biography, page 164:
2. The shell of such a mollusk.
3. (qualifier:directly from French coquille) A wrinkle, pucker
4. (broadly) A defect in sheepskin; firm dark nodules caused by the bites of keds on live sheep
5. (figuratively, in-plural) Chiefly in cockles of someone's heart: a person's innermost feelings.
6. (UK) The dome of a heating furnace.
7. (UK) The fire chamber of a furnace.
8. (UK) A kiln for drying hops; an oast.
9. (Cornwall, UK) The mineral black tourmaline or schorl.

Forms

Deriveds

ear cockle · cocklewoman · earcockle · cockle wife · moulding of cockle bread · corn cockle · warm the cockles of someone's heart · blood cockle · cockly · cockleshell · cockler · corncockle · common cockle · hot cockles · cocklestove · cockleman · cockle-bread

Relateds

scallop

Translations (48)

el κοχύλι (shell of the cockle) · pl sercówka (any of various edible European bivalve mollusks) · ja 笊貝 (any of various edible European bivalve mollusks) · gd srùban (shell of the cockle) · es coquina (any of various edible European bivalve mollusks) · ga sruán (any of various edible European bivalve mollusks) · cmn 泥蚶 (any of various edible European bivalve mollusks) · nl kokhaan (any of various edible European bivalve mollusks) · mt arzella (shell of the cockle) · ru сердцеви́дка (any of various edible European bivalve mollusks) · ga báisín (shell of the cockle) · cmn 鳥蛤 /鸟蛤 (any of various edible European bivalve mollusks) · ms kerang (any of various edible European bivalve mollusks) · hu kagyló (any of various edible European bivalve mollusks) · nb hjertemusling (any of various edible European bivalve mollusks) · hu szívkagyló (any of various edible European bivalve mollusks) · bg сърцевидна мида (any of various edible European bivalve mollusks) · gd coilleag (any of various edible European bivalve mollusks) · ga gruán (any of various edible European bivalve mollusks) · nl kokkel (any of various edible European bivalve mollusks) · nl zieleroerselen (one’s innermost feelings) · fi sydänsimpukka (any of various edible European bivalve mollusks) · ast berberechu (any of various edible European bivalve mollusks) · ca escopinya (any of various edible European bivalve mollusks) · de Herzmuschel (any of various edible European bivalve mollusks) · gl croque (any of various edible European bivalve mollusks) · el στρείδι (any of various edible European bivalve mollusks) · ast virigüetu (any of various edible European bivalve mollusks) · gd coilleag (shell of the cockle) · ko 꼬막 (any of various edible European bivalve mollusks) · es berberecho (any of various edible European bivalve mollusks) · fr coque (any of various edible European bivalve mollusks) · ga sliogán ruacain (shell of the cockle) · nb hjerteskjell (any of various edible European bivalve mollusks) · nv chʼosh bitsʼaʼí dijoolígíí (any of various edible European bivalve mollusks) · nl hartschelp (shell of the cockle) · nl hartschelp (any of various edible European bivalve mollusks) · uk серцеви́дка (any of various edible European bivalve mollusks) · ota طراق (any of various edible European bivalve mollusks) · nrf chuchette (any of various edible European bivalve mollusks) · nl kokkel (shell of the cockle) · ca escopinya (shell of the cockle) · pt berbigão (any of various edible European bivalve mollusks) · gd srùban (any of various edible European bivalve mollusks) · gl berberecho (any of various edible European bivalve mollusks) · ga ruacan (any of various edible European bivalve mollusks) · mi tuangi (any of various edible European bivalve mollusks) · fi sydänsimpukan kuori (shell of the cockle)

cockle en · VERB · etymology 1

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈkɒkl̩/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /ˈkɑk(ə)l/ (General-American)

Etymology

From Middle English cokel, cokkel, kokkel, cocle, of uncertain origin. Perhaps a diminutive of Middle English cokke, cok (“cockle”), from Old English cocc (found in sǣcocc (“cockle”)) + -le; or perhaps from Old French coquille, from Vulgar Latin *cocchilia, from conchylia, from Ancient Greek κογχύλιον (konkhúlion), diminutive of κογχύλη (konkhúlē, “mussel”), of Pre-Greek substrate origin.

Meanings

1. (transitive) To cause to contract into wrinkles or ridges, as some kinds of cloth after a wetting; to pucker.

Forms

cockle en · NOUN · etymology 2

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈkɒkl̩/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /ˈkɑk(ə)l/ (General-American)

Etymology

From Middle English cockil, cokil, cokylle, from Old English coccel (“darnel”), of unknown origin, perhaps from a diminutive of Latin coccus (“berry”).

Meanings

1. Any of several field weeds, such as the common corncockle (Agrostemma githago) and darnel ryegrass (Lolium temulentum).
   • But cockle, spurge, according to their law / Might propagate their kind, with none to awe, / You'd think; a burr had been a treasure trove. 1855, Robert Browning, Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came, section X:

Forms

Relateds

ryegrass · cheat · tare · corncockle · cocklebur · aquatic cockle · vetch

Synonyms

false wheat (Lolium temulentum) · darnel (Lolium temulentum)

Translations (11)

es cizaña (any of several weeds, such as the corn cockle) · it loglio (any of several weeds, such as the corn cockle) · nl kokhaan (any of several weeds, such as the corn cockle) · ca niella (any of several weeds, such as the corn cockle) · bg къклица (any of several weeds, such as the corn cockle) · nl kokkelboon (any of several weeds, such as the corn cockle) · ja ドクムギ (any of several weeds, such as the corn cockle) · fr ivraie enivrante (any of several weeds, such as the corn cockle) · pt joio (any of several weeds, such as the corn cockle) · ga cogal (any of several weeds, such as the corn cockle) · nl hartschelp (any of several weeds, such as the corn cockle)

cockle en · VERB · etymology 3

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈkɒkl̩/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /ˈkɑk(ə)l/ (General-American)

Etymology

Origin uncertain.

Meanings

1. (Midlands, Northern-England, Scotland) To wobble, shake; to be unsteady.
   • Israel Wilde arrived last, his ankle swollen and already berry-blue after cockling at the top of Hatherself Scout. 2017, Benjamin Myers, The Gallows Pole, Bloomsbury, published 2019, page 32:

Forms

cockle en · NOUN · etymology 4

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈkɒkl̩/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /ˈkɑk(ə)l/ (General-American)

Etymology

Rhyming slang, from cock and hen for ten.

Meanings

1. (Cockney, slang) A £10 note; a tenner.

Forms