Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun An ecclesiastical law or code of laws established by a church council.
- noun A secular law, rule, or code of law.
- noun An established principle.
- noun A basis for judgment; a standard or criterion.
- noun The books of the Bible officially accepted as Holy Scripture.
- noun A group of literary works that are generally accepted as representing a field.
- noun The works of a writer that have been accepted as authentic.
- noun The part of the Mass beginning after the Preface and Sanctus and ending just before the Lord's Prayer.
- noun The calendar of saints accepted by the Roman Catholic Church.
- noun Music A composition or passage in which a melody is imitated by one or more voices at fixed intervals of pitch and time.
- noun A member of a chapter of priests serving in a cathedral or collegiate church.
- noun A member of certain religious communities living under a common rule and bound by vows.
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[Middle English canoun, from Old English canon and from Old French, both from Latin canōn, rule, from Greek kanōn, measuring rod, rule, of Semitic origin; see qnw in Semitic roots.]
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[Middle English canoun, from Norman French canun, from Late Latin canōnicus, one living under a rule, from Latin canōn, rule; see canon.]
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Examples
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