Canonical

5 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  canonic \ca*non"ic\ (k[.a]*n[o^]n"[i^]k), canonical
  \ca*non"ic*al\ (k[.a]*n[o^]n"[i^]*kal), a. [L. canonicus, LL.
     canonicalis, fr. L. canon: cf. F. canonique. See {canon}.]
     Of or pertaining to a canon; established by, or according to,
     a canon or canons. "The oath of canonical obedience."
     --Hallam.


     [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Appearing in a Biblical canon; as, a canonical book of the
        Christian New Testament.
        [PJC]
  
     3. Accepted as authoritative; recognized.
        [PJC]
  
     4. (Math.) In its standard form, usually also the simplest
        form; -- of an equation or coordinate.
        [PJC]
  
     5. (Linguistics) Reduced to the simplest and most significant
        form possible without loss of generality; as, a canonical
        syllable pattern. Opposite of {nonstandard}.
  
     Syn: standard. [WordNet 1.5]
  
     6. Pertaining to or resembling a musical canon.
        [PJC]
  
     {Canonical books}, or {Canonical Scriptures}, those books
        which are declared by the canons of the church to be of
        divine inspiration; -- called collectively {the canon}.
        The Roman Catholic Church holds as canonical several books
        which Protestants reject as apocryphal.
  
     {Canonical epistles}, an appellation given to the epistles
        called also general or catholic. See {Catholic epistles},
        under {Canholic}.
  
     {Canonical form} (Math.), the simples or most symmetrical
        form to which all functions of the same class can be
        reduced without lose of generality.
  
     {Canonical hours}, certain stated times of the day, fixed by
        ecclesiastical laws, and appropriated to the offices of
        prayer and devotion; also, certain portions of the
        Breviary, to be used at stated hours of the day. In
        England, this name is also given to the hours from 8 a. m.
        to 3 p. m. (formerly 8 a. m. to 12 m.) before and after
        which marriage can not be legally performed in any parish
        church.
  
     {Canonical letters}, letters of several kinds, formerly given
        by a bishop to traveling clergymen or laymen, to show that
        they were entitled to receive the communion, and to
        distinguish them from heretics.
  
     {Canonical life}, the method or rule of living prescribed by
        the ancient clergy who lived in community; a course of
        living prescribed for the clergy, less rigid than the
        monastic, and more restrained that the secular.
  
     {Canonical obedience}, submission to the canons of a church,
        especially the submission of the inferior clergy to their
        bishops, and of other religious orders to their superiors.
        
  
     {Canonical punishments}, such as the church may inflict, as
        excommunication, degradation, penance, etc.
  
     {Canonical sins} (Anc. Church.), those for which capital
        punishment or public penance decreed by the canon was
        inflicted, as idolatry, murder, adultery, heresy.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  canonical
       adj 1: appearing in a Biblical canon; "a canonical book of the
              Christian New Testament" [syn: {canonic}]
       2: of or relating to or required by canon law [syn: {canonic}]
       3: reduced to the simplest and most significant form possible
          without loss of generality; "a basic story line"; "a
          canonical syllable pattern" [syn: {basic}, {canonic}]
       4: conforming to orthodox or recognized rules; "the drinking of
          cocktails was as canonical a rite as the mixing"- Sinclair
          Lewis [syn: {canonic}, {sanctioned}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  89 Moby Thesaurus words for "canonical":
     Biblical, Christian, Gospel, Mariological, Mosaic, New-Testament,
     Old-Testament, abbatial, abbatical, accepted, apocalyptic,
     apostolic, approved, archiepiscopal, authentic, authoritative,
     binding, canonic, capitular, capitulary, churchly, clerical,
     confessional, conventional, correct, creedal, customary, dictated,
     didactic, divine, doctrinal, doctrinary, dogmatic, ecclesiastic,
     episcopal, episcopalian, evangelic, evangelical, evangelistic,
     faithful, firm, formulary, gospel, hard and fast, inspired,
     instructive, literal, mandatory, ministerial, of the faith,
     official, orthodox, orthodoxical, pastoral, physicotheological,
     preceptive, prelatial, prelatic, prescribed, prescript,
     prescriptive, priest-ridden, priestish, priestly, proper,
     prophetic, rabbinic, received, regulation, religious, revealed,
     revelational, right, rubric, sacerdotal, sanctioned, scriptural,
     sound, standard, statutory, textual, textuary, theological,
     theopneustic, traditional, traditionalistic, true, true-blue,
     ultramontane
  
  

From Jargon File (4.3.1, 29 Jun 2001) [jargon]:

  canonical adj. [very common; historically, `according to religious
     law'] The usual or standard state or manner of something. This word has
     a somewhat more technical meaning in mathematics. Two formulas such as 9
     + x and x + 9 are said to be equivalent because they mean the same
     thing, but the second one is in `canonical form' because it is written
     in the usual way, with the highest power of x first. Usually there are
     fixed rules you can use to decide whether something is in canonical
     form. The jargon meaning, a relaxation of the technical meaning,
     acquired its present loading in computer-science culture largely through
     its prominence in Alonzo Church's work in computation theory and
     mathematical logic (see {Knights of the Lambda Calculus}). Compare
     {vanilla}.
  
     Non-technical academics do not use the adjective `canonical' in any of
     the senses defined above with any regularity; they do however use the
     nouns `canon' and `canonicity' (not **canonicalness or **canonicality).
     The `canon' of a given author is the complete body of authentic works by
     that author (this usage is familiar to Sherlock Holmes fans as well as
     to literary scholars). `_The_ canon' is the body of works in a given
     field (e.g., works of literature, or of art, or of music) deemed
     worthwhile for students to study and for scholars to investigate.
  
     The word `canon' has an interesting history. It derives ultimately
     from the Greek `kanon' (akin to the English `cane') referring to a reed.
     Reeds were used for measurement, and in Latin and later Greek the word
     `canon' meant a rule or a standard. The establishment of a canon of
     scriptures within Christianity was meant to define a standard or a rule
     for the religion. The above non-techspeak academic usages stem from this
     instance of a defined and accepted body of work. Alongside this usage
     was the promulgation of `canons' (`rules') for the government of the
     Catholic Church. The techspeak usages ("according to religious law")
     derive from this use of the Latin `canon'.
  
     Hackers invest this term with a playfulness that makes an ironic
     contrast with its historical meaning. A true story: One Bob Sjoberg, new
     at the MIT AI Lab, expressed some annoyance at the incessant use of
     jargon. Over his loud objections, GLS and RMS made a point of using as
     much of it as possible in his presence, and eventually it began to sink
     in. Finally, in one conversation, he used the word `canonical' in
     jargon-like fashion without thinking. Steele: "Aha! We've finally got
     you talking jargon too!" Stallman: "What did he say?" Steele: "Bob just
     used `canonical' in the canonical way."
  
     Of course, canonicality depends on context, but it is implicitly
     defined as the way _hackers_ normally expect things to be. Thus, a
     hacker may claim with a straight face that `according to religious law'
     is _not_ the canonical meaning of `canonical'.
  
  

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:

  canonical
       
          (Historically, "according to religious law")
       
          1.  A standard way of writing a formula.  Two
          formulas such as 9 + x and x + 9 are said to be equivalent
          because they mean the same thing, but the second one is in
          "canonical form" because it is written in the usual way, with
          the highest power of x first.  Usually there are fixed rules
          you can use to decide whether something is in canonical form.
          Things in canonical form are easier to compare.
       
          2.  The usual or standard state or manner of
          something.  The term acquired this meaning in computer-science
          culture largely through its prominence in {Alonzo Church}'s
          work in computation theory and {mathematical logic} (see
          {Knights of the Lambda-Calculus}).
       
          Compare {vanilla}.
       
          This word has an interesting history.  Non-technical academics
          do not use the adjective "canonical" in any of the senses
          defined above with any regularity; they do however use the
          nouns "canon" and "canonicity" (not "canonicalness"* or
          "canonicality"*). The "canon" of a given author is the
          complete body of authentic works by that author (this usage is
          familiar to Sherlock Holmes fans as well as to literary
          scholars).  "The canon" is the body of works in a given field
          (e.g. works of literature, or of art, or of music) deemed
          worthwhile for students to study and for scholars to
          investigate.
       
          The word "canon" derives ultimately from the Greek "kanon"
          (akin to the English "cane") referring to a reed.  Reeds were
          used for measurement, and in Latin and later Greek the word
          "canon" meant a rule or a standard.  The establishment of a
          canon of scriptures within Christianity was meant to define a
          standard or a rule for the religion.  The above non-technical
          academic usages stem from this instance of a defined and
          accepted body of work.  Alongside this usage was the
          promulgation of "canons" ("rules") for the government of the
          Catholic Church.  The usages relating to religious law derive
          from this use of the Latin "canon".  It may also be related to
          arabic "qanun" (law).
       
          Hackers invest this term with a playfulness that makes an
          ironic contrast with its historical meaning.  A true story:
          One Bob Sjoberg, new at the {MIT AI Lab}, expressed some
          annoyance at the incessant use of jargon.  Over his loud
          objections, {GLS} and {RMS} made a point of using as much of
          it as possible in his presence, and eventually it began to
          sink in.  Finally, in one conversation, he used the word
          "canonical" in jargon-like fashion without thinking.  Steele:
          "Aha!  We've finally got you talking jargon too!"  Stallman:
          "What did he say?"  Steele: "Bob just used "canonical" in the
          canonical way."
       
          Of course, canonicality depends on context, but it is
          implicitly defined as the way *hackers* normally expect things
          to be.  Thus, a hacker may claim with a straight face that
          "according to religious law" is *not* the canonical meaning of
          "canonical".
       
          (2002-02-06)