halcyon days

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[edit] English

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[edit] Etymology

From Latin 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.

[edit] Noun

halcyon days (plurale tantum)

  1. Period of calm during the winter, when storms do not occur.
  2. (idiomatic) A period of calm, often nostalgic: “halcyon days of yore”, “halcyon days of youth”.

[edit] Quotations

1880 1891 2002
ME: [[{{{enm}}}]] « 15th c. 16th c. 17th c. 18th c. 19th c. 20th c. 21st c.
  • c.1880Ambrose Bierce, 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.
  • 1891Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass, Book XXXIV
    Then for the teeming quietest, happiest days of all!
    The brooding and blissful halcyon days!
  • 2002Orihime Inoue, s: Bleach ep.141,
    I can't believe I can't bring myself to do it. I'm sorry. Goodbye Kurosaki. Goodbye Halcyon Days.halcyon days!

[edit] See also