canˇon
1
(k
n
n)
KEY
NOUN:
- 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.
- 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.
ETYMOLOGY:
Middle English
canoun, from Old English
canon, and from Old French both from Latin
can
n,
rule, from Greek
kann,
measuring rod, rule
