halcyon



the halcyon days

  (literary)
a very happy or successful period in the past
Usage notes: Halcyon days are two weeks of good weather during the winter when the days are the shortest in the year.
(often + of ) She recalled the halcyon days of childhood. That was in the halcyon days of the 1980's when the economy was booming.
See also: days, halcyon

halcyon days

A calm and peaceful period of time. There was an old belief that two weeks of calm weather were to be expected just before and after the winter solstice, when the halcyon bird (a species akin to the kingfisher) calmed the sea in order to lay and hatch her eggs on a floating nest. That idea originated with the Greek myth of Alcyone, daughter of Aeolus, god of the winds, who was married to the king of Thessaly. When the king was drowned at sea, Alcyone threw herself into the water in her grief. However, the gods transformed her into the halcyon bird whom the wind carried to be reunited with her husband.
See also: days, halcyon

Common Names:

NameGenderPronouncedUsage
Vanesa-Czech, Slovak
Dorsey['dɔ:si]
Vasu-Hinduism, Indian, Kannada, Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, Hindi
Deja-Various
WinstonWIN-stənEnglish
WrightRIETEnglish