warming the cockles of someone'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)

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

   Synonyms:

   warm someone's cockles, warm someone's heart, beatify, enrapture, begladden, blissen, bright, cheer, fetch, cheer up