cockle
English edit
Pronunciation edit
Etymology 1 edit
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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.
Noun edit
cockle (plural cockles)
- Any of various edible European bivalve mollusks, of the family Cardiidae, having heart-shaped shells.
- 1990, Dido Davies, Andrew Davies, William Gerhardie: A Biography, page 164:
- 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.
- The shell of such a mollusk.
- (in the plural) One’s innermost feelings (only in the expression “the cockles of one’s heart”).
- (directly from French coquille) A wrinkle, pucker
- (by extension) A defect in sheepskin; firm dark nodules caused by the bites of keds on live sheep
- (mining, UK, Cornwall) The mineral black tourmaline or schorl.[1]
- (UK) The fire chamber of a furnace.[2]
- (UK) A kiln for drying hops; an oast.[3]
- (UK) The dome of a heating furnace.[4]
Derived terms edit
Translations edit
any of various edible European bivalve mollusks
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the shell of the cockle
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one’s innermost feelings
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wrinkle — see wrinkle
a defect in sheepskin
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
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See also edit
Verb edit
cockle (third-person singular simple present cockles, present participle cockling, simple past and past participle cockled)
- (transitive) To cause to contract into wrinkles or ridges, as some kinds of cloth after a wetting; to pucker.
Etymology 2 edit
Wikispecies From Middle English cockil, cokil, cokylle, from Old English coccel (“darnel”), of unknown origin, perhaps from a diminutive of Latin coccus (“berry”).
Noun edit
cockle (plural cockles)
- Any of several field weeds, such as the common corncockle (Agrostemma githago) and darnel ryegrass (Lolium temulentum).
- 1855, Robert Browning, Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came, section X:
- 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.
Synonyms edit
- (Lolium temulentum): darnel, false wheat
Related terms edit
Translations edit
corncockle — see corncockle
any of several weeds, such as the corn cockle
See also edit
Etymology 3 edit
Origin uncertain.
Verb edit
cockle (third-person singular simple present cockles, present participle cockling, simple past and past participle cockled)
- (Scotland, Northern England, Midlands) To wobble, shake; to be unsteady. [from 17th c.]
- 2017, Benjamin Myers, The Gallows Pole, Bloomsbury, published 2019, page 32:
- Israel Wilde arrived last, his ankle swollen and already berry-blue after cockling at the top of Hatherself Scout.
Etymology 4 edit
Rhyming slang, from cock and hen for ten.
Noun edit
cockle (plural cockles)
- (Cockney rhyming slang) A £10 note; a tenner.
References edit
- ^ Rossiter W[orthington] Raymond (1881) “Cockle”, in A Glossary of Mining and Metallurgical Terms. […], Easton, Pa.: [American] Institute [of Mining Engineers], […], →OCLC.
- ^ Edward H[enry] Knight (1877) “Cockle”, in Knight’s American Mechanical Dictionary. […], volumes I (A–GAS), New York, N.Y.: Hurd and Houghton […], →OCLC.
- ^ Edward H[enry] Knight (1877) “Cockle”, in Knight’s American Mechanical Dictionary. […], volumes I (A–GAS), New York, N.Y.: Hurd and Houghton […], →OCLC.
- ^ Edward H[enry] Knight (1877) “Cockle”, in Knight’s American Mechanical Dictionary. […], volumes I (A–GAS), New York, N.Y.: Hurd and Houghton […], →OCLC.