canon
canon (kan′ən)
noun
- a law or body of laws of a church
- Rare any law or decree
- an established or basic rule or principle the canons of good taste
- a standard to judge by; criterion
- a body of rules, principles, criteria, etc.
- the books of the Bible officially accepted by a church or religious body as divinely inspired
- the works ascribed to an author that are accepted as genuine
- the complete works, as of an author
- those works, authors, etc. accepted as major or essential the Victorian canon
- Eccles. the fundamental and essentially unvarying part of the Mass, between the Preface and Communion, that centers on consecration of the bread and wine
- a list of recognized saints as in the Roman Catholic Church
- Music
- a contrapuntal device in which a melody introduced in one voice is restated in one or more other voices that overlap the first and successive voices in continuous and strict imitation
- a composition so constructed
Etymology: ME < OE & OFr < L, measuring line, rule (hence, in ML(Ec), sacred writings admitted to the catalog according to the rule) < Gr kanōn, rule, rod < kanna: see cane
canon (kan′ən)
noun
- a member of a clerical group living according to a canon, or rule
- a clergyman serving in a cathedral or collegiate church
- canon regular
Etymology: ME < OE canonic & OFr chanoine < LL(Ec) canonicus, a cleric, one living by the canon: see canon
Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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