'Secular canon' definitions:

Definition of 'Secular canon'

From: GCIDE
  • canon \can"on\ (k[a^]n"[u^]n), n. [OE. canon, canoun, AS. canon rule (cf. F. canon, LL. canon, and, for sense 7, F. chanoine, LL. canonicus), fr. L. canon a measuring line, rule, model, fr. Gr. kanw`n rule, rod, fr. ka`nh, ka`nnh, reed. See Cane, and cf. Canonical.]
  • 1. A law or rule. [1913 Webster]
  • Or that the Everlasting had not fixed His canon 'gainst self-slaughter. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. (Eccl.) 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. [1913 Webster]
  • Various canons which were made in councils held in the second centry. --Hook. [1913 Webster]
  • 3. 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. [1913 Webster]
  • 4. In monasteries, a book containing the rules of a religious order. [1913 Webster]
  • 5. A catalogue of saints acknowledged and canonized in the Roman Catholic Church. [1913 Webster]
  • 6. A member of a cathedral chapter; a person who possesses a prebend in a cathedral or collegiate church. [1913 Webster]
  • 7. (Mus.) 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. [1913 Webster]
  • 8. (Print.) The largest size of type having a specific name; -- so called from having been used for printing the canons of the church. [1913 Webster]
  • 9. The part of a bell by which it is suspended; -- called also ear and shank.
  • Note: [See Illust. of Bell.] --Knight. [1913 Webster]
  • 10. (Billiards) See Carom. [1913 Webster]
  • Apostolical canons. See under Apostolical.
  • Augustinian canons, Black canons. See under Augustinian.
  • Canon capitular, Canon residentiary, a resident member of a cathedral chapter (during a part or the whole of the year).
  • Canon law. See under Law.
  • Canon of the Mass (R. C. Ch.), that part of the mass, following the Sanctus, which never changes.
  • Honorary canon, a canon[6] who neither lived in a monastery, nor kept the canonical hours.
  • Minor canon (Ch. of Eng.), one who has been admitted to a chapter, but has not yet received a prebend.
  • Regular canon (R. C. Ch.), one who lived in a conventual community and followed the rule of St. Austin; a Black canon.
  • Secular canon (R. C. Ch.), one who did not live in a monastery, but kept the hours. [1913 Webster]