canon

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“
The governor took to dropping into the canon's book-lined study near the cathedral after office hours, and North would come to the executive mansion and smoke half the night away; for the canon was a judge of tobacco no less than men.

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Definitions (55)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (12)

  1. noun An ecclesiastical law or code of laws established by a church council.
  2. noun A secular law, rule, or code of law.
  3. noun An established principle: the canons of polite society.
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Examples (50)

  • More than a statement of fact, a canon is an expression of values, a political decision,[ 1 ] a mirror reflecting back on the selector and her society/culture. —  F ;SF; - vol 086 issue 04 - April 1994
  • Simply put, a canon is a tune that can be overdubbed on itself. —  MFSF,January2005
  • If anyone thinks that the formation of the canon was arbitrary then the haven't read the "Gospel" of Thomas. —  Heidelblog
  • When Alban Berg used the play as the basis for his famous opera, which premiered in Berlin in 1925, the work's place in the canon was assured. —  theatre notes
  • If we simply alter the previous sentence to read "a canon is an artistic form in which the successive parts repeat a given theme at stated intervals," we can perceive the basic analogy that Escher recognized. —  New at Creativity-Portal.com
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Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

precept ·  tradition ·  historian ·  dogma ·  writing ·  maxim ·  scripture ·  creed ·  constitution ·  ordinance ·  ravine ·  observance

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canon:   canons
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (4)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. Middle English canoun, from Old English canon and from Old French, both from Latin canōn, rule, from Greek kanōn, measuring rod, rule.
  2. Middle English canoun, from Norman French canun, from Late Latin canōnicus, one living under a rule, from Latin canōn, rule; see canon1.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. from Middle English canon, canoun, a rule, from Anglo-Saxon canon, a rule, canon (canones bōc, the book of the canon), = Dutch canon = German canon, kanon = Swedish Danish kanon = French canon = Spanish canon = Portuguese canon = Italian canone = Welsh canon = Russian kanonǔ, from Latin canon, a rule, in Late Latin also the catalogue of sacred writings, from Greek κανών, a rule, the catalogue of the sacred writings, a rule of the church; the orig. sense being ‘a straight rod,’ from κάνη, a rare form of κάννη, κάννα, a reed: see cane. Cf. cannon, a doublet of canon, and canon, a deriv.
  2. from ME, canon, canoun, canun, assibilated chanoun, from Old French canone, assibilated chanone, chanoinne, French chanoine = Provencal canonge = Spanish canónigo = Portuguese conego = Italian canonico = Anglo-Saxon canonic, Middle English kanunk = Middle Dutch kanonick, Dutch kanoniek = late Middle High German kanonike, German canonich, now usually canonicus, = Icelandic kanoki, kanuki = Swedish kanik, also kanonicus, = Danish kannik = Russian kanonikǔ, from Late Latin Middle Latin canonicus (also canonius), a canon or prebendary (properly adjective, pertaining to the rules or institutes of the church canonical: see canonic, canonical), later also (Middle Latin) simply canon (LGr. κανών, a canon, prebendary), from Latin canon, from Greek κανών, a rule: see canon.
 

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/ˈkænən/
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