As a noun, halcyon is a synonym for kingfisher, which was once thought to make a floating nest on supposedly calm seas thought to occur for a fortnight around the winter solstice.
Only a few weeks ago life had been more serene, more secure and halcyon than ever before.
One might expect the result to be a record of a halcyon childhood, of barefoot boys running free in the open air, untrammelled by the constraints of modern life.
Daniel Butler, Guardian, 25 March 2006, Guardian
reviewing Horatio Clare's Running for the Hills. Amazon
The problem with these juxtapositions is that each latter term risks being overstated, harking back to a non-existent halcyon age, and together they make up only a grab bag of moans that have no coherence as critique.
Stuart Jeffries, Guardian, 19 May 2006, Guardian
reviewing Richard Koch and Chris Smith's Suicide of the West. Amazon
Disneyland combined nostalgia for a halcyon, nonexistent past with utopian fantasies of Tomorrowland.
Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times, 14 November 2006, New York Times
reviewing Neal Gabler's Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination. Amazon
