English
Etymology
From L. Alcyone, daughter of Aeolus and wife of Ceyx. When her husband died in a shipwreck, Alcyone threw herself into the sea whereupon the gods transformed them both into halcyon birds (kingfishers). When Alcyone made her nest on the beach, waves threatened to destroy it. Aeolus restrained his winds and made the waves be calm during seven days in each year, so she could lay her eggs. These became known as the "halcyon days", when storms never occur.
Noun
halcyon days
- Period of calm during the winter, when storms do not occur.
Quotations
timeline|
1800s=1880 1891
c.1880 � w:Ambrose Bierce|Ambrose Bierce, s:On a Mountain|On a Mountain
:And, by the way, during those halcyon days (the halcyon was there, too, chattering above every creek, as he is all over the world) we fought another battle.
1891 � w:Wlat Whitman|Walt Whitman, s: Leaves of Grass - Book XXXIV|Leaves of Grass, Book XXXIV
:Then for the teeming quietest, happiest days of all!<br>The brooding and blissful halcyon days!
See also
Alcyone
halcyon
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