Forms: 5 cokille, cokyll(e, (coakelle), 5–6 cockill(e, Sc. cokkil, -yl, -ilȝe, 5–7 cocle, 6 cokil(l, cockell, (6–7 coccle, 7 cokle, cockel, cochle), 6– cockle. [ME. cokille, a. F. coquille (OF. also cokille) shell, = It. cocchiglia cockle-shell:—L. type *cocchilia, *cocquilia, by-form of conchylia, pl. of conchylium (conquilium in a Gloss.), a. Gr. κογχύλιον small kind of mussel or cockle, dim. of κογχύλη = κόγχη (whence L. concha and by-form *cocca) mussel or (perhaps) cockle. With the English shifting of the stress, cokille has become cockle, like gentille, gentle, etc.]
1. The English name of bivalve mollusks of the genus Cardium, esp. C. edule, common on sandy coasts, and much used for food. (Formerly applied more vaguely, including other bivalves.)
[1393. Langl., P. Pl., C. X. 95. A ferthyng-worth of muscles … oþer so fele Cockes (15th c. MS. cokeles).]
c. 1420. [see COCKLE-SHELL 1].
c. 1425. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 642/23. Hec conca, cochille.
c. 1430. Lydg., MS. Soc. Antiq., 134. 3 (Halliw.). As the cockille with hevenly dew so clene Of kynde engendreth white perlis rounde.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 86. Cocle, fysche [1499 cokyll], coclea.
1481–90. Howard Househ. Bks. (1844), 21. Item, coakelles.
1530. Palsgr., 206/2. Coccle fysshe, coquille.
1577–87. Holinshed, Chron., III. 1192/1. Frenchmen came foorth of Leith to gather cockles on the sands.
1620. Venner, Via Recta, iv. 82. Cockles are not so noysome as Muskles, for they are of lighter concoction, and of better nourishment.
1772–84. Cook, Voy. (1790), I. 209. He found some cockles so large, that one of them was more than sufficient for two men.
1806. Gazetteer Scot. (ed. 2), 156. At one place is an extensive bed of the finest cockles.
1855. Kingsley, Glaucus, 58. Why are they … rattling about the huge mahogany cockles, as big as a man’s two fists…?
1867. M. S. Lovell, Edible Mollusks, 29. In the Hebrides … is a Mya, there called the cockle.
2. The shell of this mollusk; often, a single valve of the shell; COCKLE-SHELL. Formerly applied (like F. coquille) to any bivalve shell, esp. that of the scallop.
† Order of the cockle (F. ordre de la coquille): the order of St. Michael instituted by Louis XI. of France, so called from the gold scallop-shells with which the collar of the order was ornamented.
c. 1507. Justes of May & June, in Hazl., E. P. P., II. 114. A cognysaunce … of a wite cocle.
1517. Ld. Treas. Acc. Scot., in Pitcairn, Crim. Trials, I. *265. To warne the Lordis to be in Edinr. at the Coler of Cokkylȝeis taking.
1549. Compl. Scot., xvii. (1872), 148. The kyng of France makkis the ordour of the cokkil.
a. 1572. Knox, Hist. Ref., Wks. 1846, I. 217. Huntley, Ergyle, and Anguss, was lykwiese maid Knyghtis of the Cockill.
1596. Shaks., Tam. Shr., IV. iii. 66. Why ’tis a cockle or a walnut-shell.
1807. Crabbe, Par. Reg., III. 318. Cockles blanch’d and pebbles neatly spread, Form’d shining borders for the larkspurs’ bed.
a. 1845. Barham, Ingol. Leg., S. Gengulphus, vi. Cockle on hat, and staff in hand.
3. † a. A small shallow vessel resembling a cockle-shell; a saucer or the like. Obs.
1648. Hexham, Dutch Dict., Een boter-stande, a wodden Platter or Cocle for Milke to stand in.
b. A small shallow boat; cf. COCKLE-SHELL 3.
1868. B. J. Lossing, Hudson, 308. We glided almost noiselessly up the bay, in company with two or three duck-hunters, in their little cockles.
4. A small shell-like confection of sugar and flour, having a printed motto or couplet rolled up inside. (U.S. local.) ? Obs.
1851. Hawthorne, Twice-told T., I. viii. 149. And those little cockles, or whatever they are called, much prized by children for their sweetness, and more for the mottoes which they inclose, by love-sick maids and bachelors!
1890. Correspt. fr. Salem, Mass. ‘Little cockles’ were in white, pink, and buff…. We always had them at our children’s parties and had great fun in reading the mottoes aloud.
5. Cockles of the heart: used in connection with to rejoice, delight, etc.; also (in modern use) to warm the cockles of one’s heart.
For derivation cf. quot. 1669. Others have sought its origin in L. corculum dim. of cor heart. (Latham conjectured ‘the most probable explanation lies (1) in the likeness of a heart to a cockleshell; the base of the former being compared to the hinge of the latter; (2) in the zoological name for the cockle being Cardium, from the Greek καρδία = heart.’)
[1669. R. Lower, Tract. de Corde, 25. Fibræ quidem … spirali suo ambitu helicem sive cochleam satis apte referunt.]
1671. Eachard, Obs. Answ. Cont. Clergy, 22. This Contrivance of his did inwardly as much rejoyce the Cockles of his heart, as he phansies, that what I writ did sometimes much tickle my spleen.
1739. R. Bull, trans. Dedekindus’ Grobianus, 110.
| O! how you’d please the Cockles of my Heart, | |
| If tow’rd your Neighbour you your Front convert. |
1792. Scott, Lett., 30 Sept., in Lockhart. An expedition … which would have delighted the very cockles of your heart. Ibid. (1821), Kenilw., xix. What! shall we not … warm the cockles of our ancient kindness.
1828. Southey, Lett. (1856), IV. 99. My cockles are comforted whenever I enter the door.
1858. Darwin, in Life & Lett. (1888), II. 112. I have just had the innermost cockles of my heart rejoiced by a letter from Lyell.
6. Cf. HOT COCKLES.
1844. trans. Eugene Sue’s Myst. Paris, III. vii. 1006. When he placed his hands on a table, he seemed to use a just metaphor of Pique-Vinaigre to play a game of cockles.
7. attrib. and Comb., as cockle family, kind, tribe; cockle-boat, a small boat (cf. 3 b, and COCK-BOAT); cockle-garden, an enclosed part of the coast, where cockles are bred for economic purposes; cockle-gatherer, one who gathers cockles for food, etc.; cockle-hat, a hat with a ‘cockle’ or scallop-shell stuck in it, worn by pilgrims, as a sign of their having been at the shrine of St. James of Compostella in Spain; † cockle-pan (cf. 3), ? a shallow pan used on the kitchen fire; cockle-pond, a shallow pond in which cockles are bred; cockle-rake (see quot.); cockle-sauce (cf. oyster-sauce); † cockle-strewer, the person who strewed a pall-mall ground with powdered cockle-shells (cf. Pepys, 15 May 1663); cockle-wife, a woman who gathers cockles for sale. See also COCKLE-SHELL.
1622. Fletcher, Woman’s Prize, II. vi. (1647), 106/2. This Pinck, this painted Foyst, this *Cockle-boat, To hang her Fights out, and defie me friends, A wel known man of war?
1841–71. T. R. Jones, Anim. Kingd. (ed. 4), 544. The *Cockle-family (Cardiacea).
1882. Standard, 26 Sept., 2/2. Cockles are cultivated at Starcross, where there are *‘cockle gardens.’
1867. M. S. Lovell, Edible Mollusks, 28. It is astonishing how quickly an expert *cockle-gatherer will fill his basket.
a. 1600[?]. Friar of Orders Gray, in Percy, Reliq., I. II. xviii. O by his *cockle-hat, and staff, And by his sandal shoone.
1834. Sir F. B. Head, Bubbles fr. Brunnens, 304. The aged man … took the cockle hat—and seized … the light long pilgrim’s staff.
1563. Wills & Inv. N. C. (1835), 209. A cressett, a *cockell pann, a laten ladle.
1569. Richmond. Wills (1853), 219. Ij rostinge ireons, a kokle pane, a pair tonngs.
1885. Lady Brassey, The Trades, 215. After dark nothing would induce them to pass the mangrove-swamps or *cockle-ponds, for fear of ‘Duppies,’ or ghosts.
1883. Fisheries Exhib. Catal., 13. *Cockle Rake used … in gathering Cockles, Clams, &c.
1769. Mrs. Raffald, Eng. Housekpr. (1776), 35. Serve them [haddocks] up … with plain melted butter, or *cockle sauce.
18[?]. London, its Celebrated Char., I. 138 (Lovell), 45. The person who had the care of grounds was called the ‘King’s *Cockle Strewer.’
1884. M. S. Lovell, Edible Mollusca, 43. The sand-banks are lined with the *‘cockle-wives’ scraping for cockles, the scraper being made from an old reaping-hook.
¶ See also COCHLE.
