warm the cockles of someone's heart
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]First documented use in 1671. Corruption of Latin cochleae (“ventricles”) in cochleae cordis (“ventricles of the heart”).[1][2] Earlier attempt to explain the etymology no longer noted in reference works: Possibly due to resemblance of cockles to hearts.[2]
Pronunciation
[edit]Audio (General Australian): (file)
Verb
[edit]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)
- (idiomatic) To provide happiness, to bring a deeply-felt contentment.
- 1671 John Eachard:[3]
- This contrivance of his did inwardly rejoice the cockles of his heart.
- 1871, H F. Manley, A Continental Tour, Together with Notes and Anecdotes of Diplomatic Life:
- 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
- 1989, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, translated by H. T. Willetts, August 1914, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, →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.
- 1671 John Eachard:[3]
Synonyms
[edit]- (to provide happiness): warm someone's heart
Related terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]to provide happiness to someone
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References
[edit]- ^ “warm the cockles of one's heart”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present, retrieved 2023-06-29, reproduced from Christine Ammer, The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin, 2003, →ISBN.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Michael Quinion (August 3, 2002) “Cockles of your heart”, in World Wide Words.
- ^ Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.