canon

noun15

1. •
   A group of literary works that are generally accepted as representing a field.

   • Russo had been working as a salesman, selling Great Books of the Western World, hawking the canon to the rubes. — 1992
2. •
   The works of a writer that have been accepted as authentic.
3. •
   The officially recognized continuity, events, characters, relationships, etc. of a work of fiction.

   • A spin-off book series revealed the aliens to be originally from Earth, but it's not canon.
4. •
   A generally accepted principle; a rule.

   • The trial must proceed according to the canons of law.
5. •
   A formally codified set of criteria deemed mandatory for a particular artistic style of figurative art.
6. •
   A religious law or body of law decreed by the church.

   • We must proceed according to canon law.
7. •
   A type of clergymember serving a cathedral or collegiate church.

   • The records show that in the early 960s the cathedral at Winchester was administered by a group of canons, every one of whom was married. — 1999
8. •
   A canon regular, a member of any of several Roman Catholic religious orders.
9. •
   A piece of music in which the same melody is played by different voices, but beginning at different times; a round.

   • Pachelbel’s Canon has become very popular.
10. •
    A eucharistic prayer, particularly the Roman Canon.
11. •
    A catalogue of saints acknowledged and canonized in the Roman Catholic Church.
12. •
    In monasteries, a book containing the rules of a religious order.
13. •
    (old-fashioned) A large size of type formerly used for printing the church canons, standardized as 48-point.
14. •
    The part of a bell by which it is suspended; the ear or shank of a bell.
15. •
    A rent or stipend payable at some regular time, generally annual, e.g., canon frumentarius

    • The lessees of public lands had to pay a perpetual rent or "canon" at some periodical time. — 1919

adjective1

1. •
   (slang) Clipping of canonical.

   • The franchise's book spinoff is usually not considered canon.

noun1

1. •
   Title for a canon.

   • Canon Smith is our new parish priest.