Halcyon

[Fr. and Lat., from Gr. hals, the sea, and kuna i, kunan, to search.] ( Zool.) See ALCEDO. -a. Calm; undisturbed; peaceful; quiet; as, halcyon ease. Halcyon-days, n. pl . [Lat. dies halcyones, or halcyon i i.] (Antiq.) A term applied by the ancients to the 7 days which i in mediately precede and follow the shortest day, from the circumstance that the halcyon, or king-fisher selected that period for incubation, and they believed that, on that account, the weather was always remarkably quiet about that time. Hence the phrase "halcyon-days" has pa ed into a proverb, as denoting times of peace and tranquillity. Halcyon'idæ, n . pl . ( Zool .) See ALCEDINIDE. Halcyonoid, a . Same as ALCYONOID. q. v. Hal'dane, in Illinois , a post-office of Ogle co. Hal'deman, SAMUEL STEHMAN, an American natur alist and philologist, born near Columbia, Pa., in 1812, and educated at Dick in son College, was employed on the New Jersey and Pennsylvania geological surveys in 1836-37, In 1871 he became profe or of Natural History in the University of Pennsylvania, four years later obtained the same post in the Delaware College, Newark, Del., and was afterward profe or of Geology and Chemistry to the State Agricultural Society of IMG:content-0501.png:[blocks in formation] "Half blooded fellow, yes."-Shaks. Half-boarder, n. A term applied in pensions or boarding-schools to such persons who take in the establishment no other meal than their dinner.