From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishperiwinkleper‧i‧win‧kle /ˈperɪwɪŋkəl/ noun 1 [countable]HBP a small plant with light blue or white flowers that grows close to the ground2 [countable]HBF a small sea animal that lives in a shell and can be eaten SYN winkle
Examples from the Corpus
periwinkle• Not all fossils are shells of invertebrates like clams, oysters, cowries, and periwinkles.• We slice green apples from my tree, scrub mussels and crabs, extract periwinkles from their shells.• Farther down the cove hundreds of periwinkles move slowly over the black rocks, feeding on kelp.• In the glow of the porch light, he saw her eyes turn that mesmerizing shade of periwinkle.• Examples of this universal balancing act keep proliferating, stretching out my meditation as I shell periwinkles.• The periwinkle scours it, spits the calcified bits away.Origin periwinkle 1. (1000-1100) Latin pervinca2. (1500-1600) Perhaps from Old English pinewincle, from Latin pina type of mussel + Old English -wincle “shell” 