can·on 1   (kān'ən)    n.   An ecclesiastical law or code of laws established by a church council. A secular law, rule, or code of law. An established principle: the canons of polite society. A basis for judgment; a standard or criterion. A group of literary works that are generally accepted as representing a field: "the durable canon of American short fiction" (William Styron). The works of a writer that have been accepted as authentic: the entire Shakespeare canon. The books of the Bible officially accepted as Holy Scripture. A group of literary works that are generally accepted as representing a field: "the durable canon of American short fiction" (William Styron). The works of a writer that have been accepted as authentic: the entire Shakespeare canon. Canon The part of the Mass beginning after the Preface and Sanctus and ending just before the Lord's Prayer. The calendar of saints accepted by the Roman Catholic Church. Music A composition or passage in which a melody is imitated by one or more voices at fixed intervals of pitch and time. [Middle English canoun, from Old English canon and from Old French, both from Latin canōn, rule, from Greek kanōn, measuring rod, rule.]

Canon

Can"on\, n. [OE. canon, canoun, AS. canon rule (cf. F. canon, LL. canon, and, for sense 7, F. chanoine, LL. canonicus), fr. L. canon a measuring line, rule, model, fr. Gr. ? rule, rod, fr. ?, ?, red. See Cane, and cf. Canonical.]

1. A law or rule.

Or that the Everlasting had not fixed His canon 'gainst self-slaughter. --Shak.

2. (Eccl.) 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. --Hock.

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. (Mus.) 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. (Print.) The largest size of type having a specific name; -- so called from having been used for printing the canons of the church.

9. The part of a bell by which it is suspended; -- called also ear and shank.

Note: [See Illust. of Bell.] --Knight.

10. (Billiards) See Carom.

Apostolical canons. See under Apostolical.

Augustinian canons, Black canons. See under Augustinian.

Canon capitular, 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 (R. C. Ch.), that part of the mass, following the Sanctus, which never changes.

Honorary canon, a canon 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 (R. C. Ch.), one who lived in a conventual community and follower the rule of St. Austin; a Black canon.

Secular canon (R. C. Ch.), one who did not live in a monastery, but kept the hours.

canon  (1)

Main Entry: can·on
Pronunciation: 'ka-n&n
Function: noun
Etymology: Greek kanOn rod, measuring line, rule
1 a : a regulation or doctrine decreed by a church council b : a provision of canon law
2 a : an accepted principle or rule <canons of descent> b : a body of principles, rules, standards, or norms

Canon

This word is derived from a Hebrew and Greek word denoting a reed or cane. Hence it means something straight, or something to keep straight; and hence also a rule, or something ruled or measured. It came to be applied to the Scriptures, to denote that they contained the authoritative rule of faith and practice, the standard of doctrine and duty. A book is said to be of canonical authority when it has a right to take a place with the other books which contain a revelation of the Divine will. Such a right does not arise from any ecclesiastical authority, but from the evidence of the inspired authorship of the book. The canonical (i.e., the inspired) books of the Old and New Testaments, are a complete rule, and the only rule, of faith and practice. They contain the whole supernatural revelation of God to men. The New Testament Canon was formed gradually under divine guidance. The different books as they were written came into the possession of the Christian associations which began to be formed soon after the day of Pentecost; and thus slowly the canon increased till all the books were gathered together into one collection containing the whole of the twenty-seven New Testament inspired books. Historical evidence shows that from about the middle of the second century this New Testament collection was substantially such as we now possess. Each book contained in it is proved to have, on its own ground, a right to its place; and thus the whole is of divine authority. The Old Testament Canon is witnessed to by the New Testament writers. Their evidence is conclusive. The quotations in the New from the Old are very numerous, and the references are much more numerous. These quotations and references by our Lord and the apostles most clearly imply the existence at that time of a well-known and publicly acknowledged collection of Hebrew writings under the designation of "The Scriptures;" "The Law and the Prophets and the Psalms;" "Moses and the Prophets," etc. The appeals to these books, moreover, show that they were regarded as of divine authority, finally deciding all questions of which they treat; and that the whole collection so recognized consisted only of the thirty-nine books which we now posses. Thus they endorse as genuine and authentic the canon of the Jewish Scriptures. The Septuagint Version (q.v.) also contained every book we now have in the Old Testament Scriptures. As to the time at which the Old Testament canon was closed, there are many considerations which point to that of Ezra and Nehemiah, immediately after the return from Babylonian exile. (See BIBLE ØT0000580, EZRA ØT0001294, QUOTATIONS.)