warm the cockles of someone's heart

Either from:

• the similarity of a closed cockle (“European bivalve mollusk of the family Cardiidae”) to a heart;^[1] or
• a corruption of Latin 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]

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /wɔːm ðə ˈkɒkl̩z əv ˌsʌmwʌnz ˈhɑːt/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /wɔɹm ðə ˈkɑk(ə)lz əv ˌsʌmwʌnz ˈhɑɹt/

• Audio (General American):

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• Audio (General Australian):

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• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)t
• Hyphenation: warm the cock‧les of some‧one’s heart

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) (intransitive, idiomatic, dated)

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.

   • 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.

   • 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.

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.]

   • 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."

   • 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 […]

   • 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.

• heart-warming
• warm-hearted

• “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; 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 Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.