<p><strong>Noun</strong></p><ul><li>an ecclesiastical rule or law enacted by a council or other competent authority and, in the Roman Catholic Church, approved by the pope</li><li>the body of ecclesiastical law</li><li>the body of rules, principles, or standards accepted as axiomatic and universally binding in a field of study or art: the neoclassical canon</li><li>a fundamental principle or general rule: the canons of good behavior</li><li>a standard; criterion: the canons of taste</li><li>the books of the Bible recognized by any Christian church as genuine and inspired</li><li>any officially recognized set of sacred books</li><li>any comprehensive list of books within a field</li><li>the works of an author that have been accepted as authentic</li><li>established or agreed-upon constraints governing the background narrative, setting, storyline, characters, etc., in a particular fictional world</li><li>a catalog or list, as of the saints acknowledged by the Church</li><li>the part of the Mass between the Sanctus and the Communion</li><li>a liturgical sequence sung at matins, usually consisting of nine odes arranged in a fixed pattern</li><li>consistent, note-for-note imitation of one melodic line by another, in which the second line starts after the first</li><li>a 48-point type</li></ul>