• (British) IPA: /ˈhælsiːən/

halcyon (plural halcyons)

1. In classical legends, a bird said to nest on the sea, thereby calming the waters; later usually identified with a type of kingfisher, hence (poetic) a kingfisher.
   • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 12, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes, […], book II, printed at London: By Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], OCLC 946730821 ↗:

     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 […].

   • 1665, John Dryden, The Indian Emperour, IV iv 132:

     Amidst our arms as quiet you shall be / As halcyons brooding on a winter sea.

   • c.1880, Ambrose 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.

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

• French: halcyon
• Spanish: alcedón, alción

• Spanish: martín pescador, alcedón

halcyon

1. Pertaining to the halcyon or kingfisher.
2. Calm, undisturbed, peaceful, serene.
   • 1787 — Alexander Hamilton, Federalist Papers No. 30

     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.

   • 1842 — Thomas de Quincey, Cicero

     Deep, halcyon repose.

   • 1919 — H.P. Lovecraft, The City

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

• (calm, serene) at peace, blissful, calm, peaceful, prelapsarian, relaxed, serene

• Italian: alcionio

• German: ruhig, glücklich, friedlich
• Italian: alcionio