canon
canon (kan"un) , noun
[Old English canon, canoun, Anglo-Saxon canon rule (compare French canon, Late Latin canon, and, for sense 7, French chanoine, Late Latin canonicus), from Latin canon a measuring line, rule, model, from Greek kanw`n rule, rod, from ka`nh, ka`nnh, reed. See Cane, and compare Canonical.]
1.
A law or rule.
Or that the Everlasting had not fixed
His canon 'gainst self-slaughter.
2.
(Ecclesiastical) A law, or rule of doctrine or discipline, enacted by a council and confirmed by the pope or the sovereign; a decision, regulation, code, or constitution made by ecclesiastical authority.
Various canons which were made in councils held in the second centry.
3.
The collection of books received as genuine Holy Scriptures, called the sacred canon, or general rule of moral and religious duty, given by inspiration; the Bible; also, any one of the canonical Scriptures. See Canonical books, under Canonical, a.
4.
In monasteries, a book containing the rules of a religious order.
5.
A catalogue of saints acknowledged and canonized in the Roman Catholic Church.
6.
A member of a cathedral chapter; a person who possesses a prebend in a cathedral or collegiate church.
7.
(Music) A musical composition in which the voices begin one after another, at regular intervals, successively taking up the same subject. It either winds up with a coda (tailpiece), or, as each voice finishes, commences anew, thus forming a perpetual fugue or round. It is the strictest form of imitation. See Imitation.
8.
(Printing) The largest size of type having a specific name; -- so called from having been used for printing the canons of the church.
[See Illust. of Bell.]
9.
The part of a bell by which it is suspended; -- called also ear and shank. — Knight
10.
(Billiards) See Carom.
Collocations (9)
Apostolical canons , See under Apostolical.
Augustinian canons or Black canons , See under Augustinian.
Canon capitular or Canon residentiary , a resident member of a cathedral chapter (during a part or the whole of the year).
Canon law , See under Law.
Canon of the Mass (Roman Catholic Church) , that part of the mass, following the Sanctus, which never changes.
Honorary canon , a canon{6} who neither lived in a monastery, nor kept the canonical hours.
Minor canon (Ch. of Eng.) , one who has been admitted to a chapter, but has not yet received a prebend.
Regular canon (Roman Catholic Church) , one who lived in a conventual community and followed the rule of St. Austin; a Black canon.
Secular canon (Roman Catholic Church) , one who did not live in a monastery, but kept the hours.
Cañon (ka*nyon"; anglicized kan"yun) , noun
[Sp., a tube or hollow, from caña reed, from Latin canna. See Cane.]
A deep gorge, ravine, or gulch, between high and steep banks, worn by water courses. [Mexico & Western United States]
Also: canyon