a law or rule.-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.-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.-in monasteries, a book containing the rules of a religious order.-a catalogue of saints acknowledged and canonized in the roman catholic church.-a member of a cathedral chapter; a person who possesses a prebend in a cathedral or collegiate church.-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.-the largest size of type having a specific name; -- so called from having been used for printing the canons of the church.-the part of a bell by which it is suspended; -- called also ear and shank.-see carom.