To cause a feeling of affectionate happiness: “The thought of his grandmother was enough to warm the cockles of his heart.”
Idioms and Phrases with warm the cockles of one's heart
warm the cockles of one's heart
Gratify one, make one feel good, as in It warms the cockles of my heart to see them getting along so well. This expression uses a corruption of the Latin name for the heart's ventricles, cochleae cordis. [ Second half of 1600s ]