a. Obs. [f. L. coc(h)lea (see above) + -ARY; cf. COCHLEAR.] Resembling a snail-shell, spiral, winding.
1646. Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., III. xxiii. 167. That famous [horn] … hath anfractuous spires, and cochleary turnings about it.
a. 1661. Fuller, Worthies, II. 194. Cocleary turnings.
1664. Power, Exp. Philos., I. 8. Nature hath fitted it [Butterfly’s tongue] with that spiral or cochleary contrivance.
