halcyon
/ˈhalsɪən
/- With no firm ideology, swinging like a pendulum from one side to another the brief period of halcyon days in my life passed just like the sand slips out off the hands.
- Flying around the Los Angeles area was still fun in those happy, halcyon days!
- Changed days indeed and undoubtedly for the better, but I wonder if we're still being dragged down by romantic memories of the halcyon days of the past when it comes to assessing today's top horses.
Synonyms
- Here he sings of the halcyon, the mythical bird that was supposed to breed on the calm surface of the sea in mid-winter.
- Genus Halcyon, family Alcedinidae: many species.
- Halcyons are solitary except when they are courting and raising a family.
Origin
Late Middle English (in the mythological sense): via Latin from Greek alkuōn 'kingfisher' (also halkuōn, by association with hals 'sea' and kuōn 'conceiving').
The halcyon was a bird that in medieval times was thought to breed in a nest floating on the sea, and to charm the wind and waves so that the sea was calm. It was identified as a kingfisher, most of which actually nest in riverbanks, and the word comes from the Greek term for a kingfisher, alkuōn. The halcyon days were originally 14 days of calm weather which were supposed to occur when the halcyon was breeding. Today the phrase refers to a period of time in the past that was idyllically happy and peaceful, as in ‘those halcyon days when students received full government grants’.