cockleshell
English
editEtymology
editNoun
editcockleshell (plural cockleshells)
- The shell of a cockle (or similar shell).
- 1929, Robert Dean Frisbee, The Book of Puka-Puka, Eland, published 2019, page 203:
- The moment land had disappeared, the great canoe seemed no larger than a cockleshell; the waves lapped dangerously near to the tops of the gunwales, all but toppling into the canoe; and that is the curious thing about Polynesian canoes: the water always laps just to the tops of the gunwales, no matter whether the canoe is shallow or deep, whether empty or heavily laden.
- A small, flimsy boat.