[kan-uh
n] 
| 1. | an ecclesiastical rule or law enacted by a council or other competent authority and, in the Roman Catholic Church, approved by the pope. |
| 2. | the body of ecclesiastical law. |
| 3. | the body of rules, principles, or standards accepted as axiomatic and universally binding in a field of study or art: the neoclassical canon. |
| 4. | a fundamental principle or general rule: the canons of good behavior. |
| 5. | a standard; criterion: the canons of taste. |
| 6. | the books of the Bible recognized by any Christian church as genuine and inspired. |
| 7. | any officially recognized set of sacred books. |
| 8. | any comprehensive list of books within a field. |
| 9. | the works of an author that have been accepted as authentic: There are 37 plays in the Shakespeare canon. Compare apocrypha (def. 3). |
| 10. | a catalog or list, as of the saints acknowledged by the Church. |
| 11. | Liturgy. the part of the Mass between the Sanctus and the Communion. |
| 12. | Eastern Church. a liturgical sequence sung at matins, usually consisting of nine odes arranged in a fixed pattern. |
| 13. | Music. consistent, note-for-note imitation of one melodic line by another, in which the second line starts after the first. |
| 14. | Printing. a 48-point type. |
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