[f. COCKLE sb.2 + -ING1.] Gathering cockles.
1790. Mrs. Wheeler, Westmrld. Dial. (1821), 12. I doant like cocklin.
1865. Pall Mall Gaz., 15 Aug., 3/2. When I came to the cockling-place. Ibid. (1870), 4 Jan., 8/1. There is a business largely followed on the coast of Lancashire, called ‘cockling’; children and others gather mussels or pick up cockles.
