Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of various small marine clams of the genus Donax having variously colored, often striped or banded wedge-shaped shells, and found especially on sandy beaches along the Atlantic coast of the United States.
  • noun A soft porous limestone, composed essentially of fragments of shells and coral, used as a building material.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A rock made up of fragments of marine shells, slightly consolidated by pressure and infiltrated calcareous matter.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A soft, whitish, coral-like stone, formed of broken shells and corals, found in the southern United States, and used for roadbeds and for building material, as in the fort at St. Augustine, Florida.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Any of several small marine clams, of the species Donax variabilis, common in US coastal waters.
  • noun geology A soft form of limestone made of fragments of shells

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Spanish, cockle, probably diminutive of concha, shell, from Latin, mussel; see conch.]

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Examples

Comments

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  • Dona dona dona Donax

    Oyfn firl ligt dos kelbl

    ligt gebundn mit a shtrik

    hoikh in himl flit dos shvelbl

    freyt zikh dreyt zikh hin un krik.

    Lakht der vint in korn

    lakht un lakht un lakhtt

    lakht er op a tog a gantsn

    mit a halber nakht.

    Dona, dona, dona, dona,

    Dona, dona, dona, da,

    Dona, dona, dona, dona,

    Dona, dona, dona, da.

    Shreit dos kelbl zogt der poyer

    ver zhe heyst dikh zein a kalb

    volst gekent tzu zein a foygl

    volst gekent tzu zein a shvalb.

    Lakht der vint in korn ...

    Blinde kelber tut men bindn

    un men shlept zey un men shekht

    ver s'hot fligl, flit aroyftzu

    iz bei keynem nit keyn knekht.

    February 24, 2013

  • That's one of my favorites, hh. I'm tempted to put this on my cattle list now, but I have to ask: Why coquina?

    February 25, 2013

  • The whole allusion and connection to coquina lies with the mussel's genus name Donax, which reminded me of the song's repetitive verse "Dona dona dona..." . I like the visuals, especially the live oak trees and the old coquina stone city gates of St. Augustine FL, both of which have been pictured on post cards and tourist souvenirs for well over a century.

    February 25, 2013

  • Okay--I get it now. Thanks! In the meantime, I started a klezmer list.

    February 25, 2013