Etymology

Either from:

• the similarity of a closed cockle (“European bivalve mollusk of the family Cardiidae”) to a heart;^[1] or
• a corruption of LatinCategory:English terms derived from Latin#WARMTHECOCKLESOFSOMEONESHEART cochleae (“ventricles”) in cochleae cordis (“ventricles of the heart”).^[2][3]

The term cockles of [someone’s] heart is first attested in 1671: see the quotation.^[1]

Pronunciation

• enPR: wôrm thə kŏk′əlz əv sŭm′wənz härt′
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /wɔːm ðə ˈkɒk.əlz əv ˌsʌm.wənz ˈhɑːt/Category:English terms with IPA pronunciation#WARMTHECOCKLESOFSOMEONESHEART
• (General American, Canada, cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /woɹm ðə ˈkɑk.əlz əv ˌsʌm.wənz ˈhɑɹt/Category:English terms with IPA pronunciation#WARMTHECOCKLESOFSOMEONESHEART

  Audio (General American):

  (file)

  Category:English terms with audio pronunciation#WARMTHECOCKLESOFSOMEONESHEART

  (General American, without the cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /woɹm ðə ˈkɔk.əlz əv ˌsʌm.wənz ˈhɑɹt/Category:English terms with IPA pronunciation#WARMTHECOCKLESOFSOMEONESHEART

  (Canada, without the cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /woɹm ðə ˈkɒk.əlz əv ˌsʌm.wənz ˈhɑɹt/Category:English terms with IPA pronunciation#WARMTHECOCKLESOFSOMEONESHEART

• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /woːm ðə ˈkɔk.əlz əv ˌsɐm.wənz ˈhɐːt/Category:English terms with IPA pronunciation#WARMTHECOCKLESOFSOMEONESHEART

  Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

  Category:English terms with audio pronunciation#WARMTHECOCKLESOFSOMEONESHEART

• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /woːm ðə ˈkɒk.əlz əv ˌsɐm.wənz ˈhɐːt/Category:English terms with IPA pronunciation#WARMTHECOCKLESOFSOMEONESHEART
• (Scotland) IPA^(key): /wɔɹm ðə ˈkɔk.əlz əv ˌsʌm.wənz ˈhaɹt/Category:English terms with IPA pronunciation#WARMTHECOCKLESOFSOMEONESHEART
• (India) IPA^(key): /wɔʳm d̪e ˈkɔk.elz ov ˌsəm.wonz ˈhaːʳt/Category:English terms with IPA pronunciation#WARMTHECOCKLESOFSOMEONESHEART
• Hyphenation: warm the cock‧les of some‧one’s heart

Verb

warm the cockles of someone's heart (third-person singular simple present warms the cockles of someone's heart, present participle warming the cockles of someone's heart, simple past and past participle warmed the cockles of someone's heart)Category:English lemmas#WARMTHECOCKLESOFSOMEONESHEARTCategory:English verbs#WARMTHECOCKLESOFSOMEONESHEARTCategory:English multiword terms#WARMTHECOCKLESOFSOMEONESHEARTCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#WARMTHECOCKLESOFSOMEONESHEARTCategory:Pages with entries#WARM%20THE%20COCKLES%20OF%20SOMEONE'S%20HEARTCategory:Pages with 1 entry#WARM%20THE%20COCKLES%20OF%20SOMEONE'S%20HEART (intransitiveCategory:English intransitive verbs#WARMTHECOCKLESOFSOMEONESHEART, idiomaticCategory:English idioms#WARMTHECOCKLESOFSOMEONESHEART, datedCategory:English dated terms#WARMTHECOCKLESOFSOMEONESHEART)

1. Especially of food or drink (particularly an alcoholic beverage): to cause someone to feel deeply warm and comfortable; to comfort, to satisfy.
   • 1857, [Thomas Hughes], “The Stage Coach”, in Tom Brown’s School Days. […], Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Macmillan & Co., →OCLC, part I, page 85:

     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.

     Category:English terms with quotations#WARMTHECOCKLESOFSOMEONESHEART

   • 1859 August 4 – 1860 March 31 (date written), Anthony Trollope, “The Kanturk Hotel, South Main Street, Cork”, in Castle Richmond. […], volume I, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 10 May 1860, →OCLC, page 103:

     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.

     Category:English terms with quotations#WARMTHECOCKLESOFSOMEONESHEART

   • 1871, May Fly [pseudonym; H. F. Manley], A Continental Tour, together with Notes and Anecdotes of Diplomatic Life, London: Simpkin, Marshall, and Co.; Wellington, Somerset: Richard Corner, →OCLC, page 81:

     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.

     Category:English terms with quotations#WARMTHECOCKLESOFSOMEONESHEART

2. (figurative) To provide someone with a deep feeling of contentment or happiness.

   Synonyms: warm someone's cockles, warm someone's heart; see also Thesaurus:gladden

   • [1671, [John Eachard], Some Observations upon the Answer to an Enquiry into the Grounds & Occasions of the Contemt of the Clergy: […], 4th edition, London: […] E[van] Tyler and R[alph] Holt, for N[athaniel] Brooke, […], published 1672, →OCLC, pages 26–27:

     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.

     This is the earliest attestation of the term cockles of [someone’s] heart noted in the Oxford English Dictionary.]

     Category:English terms with quotations#WARMTHECOCKLESOFSOMEONESHEART

   • 1902 October, E[dith] Nesbit, “The Invaders”, in The Red House, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, →OCLC, page 210:

     "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."

     Category:English terms with quotations#WARMTHECOCKLESOFSOMEONESHEART

   • 1941, Compton Mackenzie, “The Cave of the Calf”, in The Monarch of the Glen (Guild Books; number C5), Stockholm, Sweden: [F]or the British Publishers Guild by AB Ljus Förlag, published 1945, →OCLC, page 125:

     "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 […]

     Category:English terms with quotations#WARMTHECOCKLESOFSOMEONESHEART

   • 1989, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, chapter 25, in H[arry] T[aylor] Willetts, transl., August 1914 (The Red Wheel: A Narrative in Discrete Periods of Time), 1st paperback edition, New York, N.Y.: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, published 2014, →ISBN, page 214:

     "Surname?" / "Blagodarev." / A handy name, easy to get hold of, and the ready way he gave it warmed the cockles of the heart.

     Category:English terms with quotations#WARMTHECOCKLESOFSOMEONESHEART

References

Further reading

• “warm the cockles of one’s heart” under “cockle¹, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “warm the cockles of someone‘s heart”, in Collins English Dictionary, 2011–present; from Michael Agnes, editor, Webster’s New World College Dictionary, 4th edition, Cleveland, Oh.: Wiley, 2010, →ISBN.
• “warm the cockles of someone’s heart, idiom”, in Merriam-Webster.com Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.