Open Dictionary

Halcyon

From open-dictionary.com - the free dictionary.

Table of contents

1 English

1.1 Etymology
1.2 Noun
1.3 Adjective

English

Etymology

Latin halcyon, alcyon, Greek: French halcyon

Noun

(Zoölogy): A kingfisher. By modern ornithologists restricted to a genus including a limited number of species having omnivorous habits, as the sacred kingfisher Halcyon sancta of Australia.
Quotations
- Amidst our arms as quiet you shall be As halcyons brooding on a winter sea. - John Dryden

Adjective

Pertaining to, or resembling, the halcyon, which was anciently said to lay her eggs in nests on or near the sea during the calm weather about the winter solstice.
Hence: Calm; quiet; peaceful; undisturbed; happy.
Quotations
- Deep, halcyon repose. - Thomas De Quincy

Contribute

Found an omission? You can freely contribute to this Wiktionary article. Edit 'Halcyon' article.

WordNet Definitions

The noun "halcyon" has three senses:

halcyon

The adjective "halcyon" has two senses:

halcyon

Dictionary Search

To use the dictionary service: Simply type in your word or phrase in the search box visible at the top of each Web page on this Web site and click the 'Search' button. This will start a search which will check several dictionary resources and return results based on your input. Our results are composed from the Wiktionary project, WordNet among others.

About Open Dictionary

Open Dictionary is an free extensive dictionary search service provided by the New Frontier Information Network, a newly launched private company which offers easy access to thousands of online articles, e-books and documentation covering a wide variety of broad topics.

This is a minimal rendered version of a open-dictionary.com Web page. Our Web site is best viewed using an up-to-date Web browser, such as Mozilla Firefox, Opera or Microsoft Internet Explorer.