Canon

A law or rule.

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.

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.

In monasteries, a book containing the rules of a religious order.

A catalogue of saints acknowledged and canonized in the Roman Catholic Church.

A member of a cathedral chapter; a person who possesses a prebend in a cathedral or collegiate church.

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.

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

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

See Carom.