halcyon

noun

1. (poetic)A kingfisher whose nesting by the sea was said, in classical mythology, to cause the Gods to restrain the wind and waves.

   “the Halcyon bird, or as some call it Alcedo or Kings-fisher, exceeds all mens conceit. […] Gods decree hath been, that all the watrie wildernesse should be quiet and made calme, without raine, wind, or tempest, during the time the Halcyon sitteth and bringeth forth her young-ones […]”

   “Amidſt our Arms as quiet you ſhall be / As Halcyons Brooding on a Winter Sea.”

   “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.”

2. (poetic)A kingfisher whose nesting by the sea was said, in classical mythology, to cause the Gods to restrain the wind and waves.

   “But novv hovv ſtands the vvind? / Into vvhat corner peeres my Halcions bill?”

   “Renege, affirm, and turn their halcyon beaks / With every gale and vary of their master”

3. A tropical kingfisher of the genus Halcyon, such as the sacred kingfisher (Halcyon sancta) of Australia.

adj

1. Pertaining to the halcyon or kingfisher.

   “Renege; affirm, and turn their halcyon beaks / With every gale and vary of their masters,”

2. (figuratively)Calm, undisturbed, peaceful, serene.

   “Reflections of this kind may have trifling weight with men who hope to see realized in America the halcyon scenes of the poetic or fabulous age.”

   “Deep, halcyon repose.”

   “I had wander’d in rapture beneath them, and bask’d in the Halcyon clime.”

   “The huge square box, parquet-floored and high-ceilinged, had been arranged to display a suite of bedroom furniture designed and made in the halcyon days of the last quarter of the nineteenth century, when modish taste was just due to go clean out of fashion for the best part of the next hundred years.”