Idiom
warm the cockles of someone's heart
Meaning
Especially of food or drink (particularly an alcoholic beverage): to cause someone to feel deeply warm and comfortable; to comfort, to satisfy.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“A hot cup of tea always warms the cockles of my heart.”
“After walking home in the freezing rain, a bowl of hot soup really warmed the cockles of my heart.”
“The sight of the family gathered around the fireplace, sharing stories and laughter, truly warmed the cockles of his heart on that bitter winter evening.”
Examples
simple
“A hot cup of tea always warms the cockles of my heart.”
contextual
“After walking home in the freezing rain, a bowl of hot soup really warmed the cockles of my heart.”
complex
“The sight of the family gathered around the fireplace, sharing stories and laughter, truly warmed the cockles of his heart on that bitter winter evening.”
Origin
The expression is first attested in 1671. Its origins are generally attributed to one of two anatomical observations, neither of which is particularly romantic. The first suggests a corruption of the Latin *cochleae cordis*, referring to the ventricles of the heart. The second proposes a visual comparison between a human heart and the shape of a closed cockle, a European bivalve mollusk of the family Cardiidae.
The underlying root is the Proto-Indo-European *ḱḗr, which serves as the ancestor for various terms related to the heart. Whether one is referring to a Latin ventricle or a common mollusk, the mechanism of warming remains the same.
Key words
Related idioms
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