canon

¹can·on

noun \ˈka-nən\

Definition of CANON

1

a : a regulation or dogma decreed by a church council

b : a provision of canon law

2

[Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Late Latin, from Latin, model] : the most solemn and unvarying part of the Mass including the consecration of the bread and wine

3

[Middle English, from Late Latin, from Latin, standard]

a : an authoritative list of books accepted as Holy Scripture

b : the authentic works of a writer

c : a sanctioned or accepted group or body of related works <the canon of great literature>

4

a : an accepted principle or rule

b : a criterion or standard of judgment

c : a body of principles, rules, standards, or norms

5

[Late Greek kanōn, from Greek, model] : a contrapuntal musical composition in which each successively entering voice presents the initial theme usually transformed in a strictly consistent way

Origin of CANON

Middle English, from Old English, from Late Latin, from Latin, ruler, rule, model, standard, from Greek kanōn

First Known Use: before 12th century

Other Christian Religious Terms

Pentateuch, blasphemy, curate, doxology, eremite, iconoclasm, liturgy, orison, pneuma, reliquary

Rhymes with CANON

cannon, tannin

²canon

noun

Definition of CANON

1

: a clergyman belonging to the chapter or the staff of a cathedral or collegiate church

2

: canon regular

Origin of CANON

Middle English canoun, from Anglo-French *canoun, chanoun, from Late Latin canonicus one living under a rule, from Latin, according to rule, from Greek kanonikos, from kanōn

First Known Use: 13th century

Rhymes with CANON

cannon

cañon

Definition of CAÑON

variant of canyon

canon

noun    (Concise Encyclopedia)

Musical form and compositional technique. Canons are characterized by having a melody that is imitated at a specified time interval by one or more parts, either at the same pitch or at some other pitch. Imitation may occur in the same note values, in augmentation (longer notes), or in diminution (shorter notes); in retrograde order (beginning at its end), mirror inversion (each ascending melodic interval becoming a descending interval, and vice versa), or retrograde mirror inversion; and so on. Canons range from folk rounds such as “Three Blind Mice” and “Frère Jacques” to the massively complex canons of Johann Sebastian Bach.