canons

Noun

canon (countable and uncountable, plural canons)

1. A generally accepted principle; a rule.
   • The trial must proceed according to the canons of law.
   1. A formally codified set of criteria deemed mandatory for a particular artistic style of figurative art.
      • the Canon of Polykleitos
2. 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 February 2, Mitzel, “Clay Shaw, The Quean Network & That Kennedy Killing”, in Gay Community News, volume 19, number 28, page 12
3. The works of a writer that have been accepted as authentic.
   • the entire Shakespearean canon
4. A eucharistic prayer, particularly the Roman Canon.
5. A religious law or body of law decreed by the church.
   • We must proceed according to canon law.

See all 18 meanings of canon