warm the cockles of someone's heart
/woɹm ðə ˈkɑk.əlz əv ˌsʌm.wənz ˈhɑɹt/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.30 in modern English
53
Scrabble Score
29
Letters
3
Syllables
14
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
Especially of food or drink (particularly an alcoholic beverage): to cause someone to feel deeply warm and comfortable; to comfort, to satisfy.
Dated; Intransitive verb
Example Sentences
- "Here a fresh-looking barmaid serves them each with a glass of early purl as they stand before the fire, coachman and guard exchanging business remarks. The purl warms the cockles of Tom's heart and makes him cough."
- "Well, Aby; here I am, as large as life, but as cold as death. Ugh; what an affair that coach is! Fanny, my best of darlings, give me a drop of something that's best for warming the cockles of an old man's heart."
- "My sandwiches had gone the way of all good sandwiches, and no wine remained to warm the cockles of my heart, for my flask had long been emptied."
- "Novv, although he ſays in his Preface, that he vvould not much boaſt of convincing the vvorld, hovv much I vvas miſtaken in vvhat I undertook; yet, I am confident of it, that this Contrivance of his did invvardly as much rejoyce the Cockles of his heart, as he phanſies, that vvhat I vvrit did ſometimes much tickle my Spleen."
- ""You mean that great possessions warm the cockles of your heart," I said; "that's because you're all soul. As for me, I must warm my hands in the tea-cozy before I can carve the eggs.""
- ""Well, they may laugh at us up here for our old-fashioned notions of loyalty, discipline and obedience, but when one finds it I must say it warms the cockles of the heart. Don't you agree with me, Hugh? I say it warms the cockles of the heart." / "Oh, very much so," Kilwhillie agreed. The cockles of his own heart were in a responsive condition to warmth that evening […]"
Etymology
PIE word *ḱḗr Either from: * the similarity of a closed cockle (“European bivalve mollusk of the family Cardiidae”) to a heart; or * a corruption of Latin cochleae (“ventricles”) in cochleae cordis (“ventricles of the heart”). The term cockles of [someone’s] heart is first attested in 1671: see the quotation.
Origin
- Source language: Latin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /woɹm ðə ˈkɑk.əlz əv ˌsʌm.wənz ˈhɑɹt/
- British English: /wɔːm ðə ˈkɒk.əlz əv ˌsʌm.wənz ˈhɑːt/