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. [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.
||Ca*ñon" (?), n. [Sp., a
tube or hollow, fr. caña reed, fr. L. canna.
See Cane.] A deep gorge, ravine, or gulch, between
high and steep banks, worn by water courses. [Mexico &
Western U. S.]
