Canon

English Meaning

A law or rule.

1. An ecclesiastical law or code of laws established by a church council.
2. A secular law, rule, or code of law.
3. An established principle: the canons of polite society.
4. A basis for judgment; a standard or criterion.
5. The books of the Bible officially accepted as Holy Scripture.
6. A group of literary works that are generally accepted as representing a field: "the durable canon of American short fiction” ( William Styron).
7. The works of a writer that have been accepted as authentic: the entire Shakespeare canon.
8. The part of the Mass beginning after the Preface and Sanctus and ending just before the Lord's Prayer.
9. The calendar of saints accepted by the Roman Catholic Church.
10. Music A composition or passage in which a melody is imitated by one or more voices at fixed intervals of pitch and time.
11. A member of a chapter of priests serving in a cathedral or collegiate church.
12. A member of certain religious communities living under a common rule and bound by vows.