cock·le 1
(kŏk′əl)n.1. Any of various chiefly marine bivalve mollusks of the family Cardiidae, having rounded or heart-shaped shells with radiating ribs.
2. The shell of a cockle.
3. A wrinkle; a pucker.
4. Nautical A cockleshell.
intr. & tr.v. cock·led,
cock·ling,
cock·les To become or cause to become wrinkled or puckered.
Idiom: cockles of (one's) heart One's innermost feelings: The valentine warmed the cockles of my heart.
[Middle English cokel, from Old French coquille, shell, from Vulgar Latin *cochillia, from Latin conchyllium, from Greek konkhulion, diminutive of konkhē, mussel.]
cock·le 2
(kŏk′əl)n. Any of several weedy plants, especially the corn cockle.
[Middle English cokkel, from Old English coccel, from Medieval Latin *cocculus, diminutive of Latin coccus, kermes berry, from Greek kokkos.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.