canonical, a. (and n.)
(kəˈnɒnɪkəl)
[f. med.L. canonicāl-is, f. canonic-us: see prec. and -al1.]
1. Prescribed by, in conformity with, or having reference to ecclesiastical edict or canon law.
| 1570–6 Lambarde Peramb. Kent. (1826) 303 Rochester hath..a lawful and canonicall Cathedral See. 1586 Will in Spenser's Wks. (Grosart) I. Introd. 17 For..my wyfe for and in the name of her canonicall parte and porcion. 1768 Blackstone Comm. i. (1793) 553 These canonical disabilities being entirely the province of the ecclesiastical courts. 1868 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) II. viii. 298 With the weapons of legal and canonical disputation. |
b. canonical hours: (a) stated times of the day appointed by the canons for prayer and devotion; (b) the hours (now from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.) within which marriage can be legally performed in a parish church in England; (c) transf.
| 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 218/2 And euery day at euery hour canonycal she was lift up in thayer of thangellis. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 164 All suche meditacyons perteyneth to the houres canonicall. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts Ded. 7 The canonical voice and watchfulness of a cock. a 1667 Cowley Friendship in Abs., Each Day think on me, and each Day I shall, For thee make Hours Canonical. 1859 Hook Ch. Dict. 144/2 In the Church of Rome, the canonical hours begin with vespers. |
| 1665 Pepys Diary (1879) III. 207 We, fearing the canonicall hour would be past before we got thither, did with a great deal of unwillingness send away the license and wedding ring. 1719 D'Urfey Pills III. 270 Let us be wed, At Hours Canonical. 1847 Barham Ingol. Leg. (1877) 344 It's long past the canonical hour. |
c. canonical dress, etc.; the articles of dress worn by clergy according to canon.
| 1666 Pepys Diary 27 Sept., I..to speak for a cloak and cassock for my brother..and I will have him in a canonical dress. 1685 Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) I. 343 Titus Oates..to be divested of his canonical habit for ever. 1862 Smiles Engineers III. 391 Two..old men, whose canonical hats indicated their quality as village pastors. |
d. canonical obedience: the obedience to be rendered by inferior clergy to the bishop or other ecclesiastical superior, according to the canons.
| 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. iii. iv. i. ii. (1651) 650 A false perswasion..of canonical or blind obedience. 1769 Blackstone Comm. IV. 87 His new engagements of canonical obedience to the pope. 1869 Hook Lives Abps. II. ii. 150 At his consecration he made a profession of canonical obedience to the Archbishop. |
2. Of or belonging to the canon of Scripture. (Also used of other sacred books.)
| a 1568 Coverdale Carrying Christ's Cross viii. Wks. II. 258 The canonical books of the old and New Testament. 1632 Massinger & Field Fatal Dowry iii. i, If this new preacher..Could prove his doctrine for canonical. 1651 Baxter Inf. Bapt. 167 Though it be not Canonicall, he was a wise man that said, etc. 1790 Paley Horæ Paul. i. 6 Sentences from the canonical epistles. 1857 Max Müller Chips (1880) I. x. 267 The chief canonical books of the Buddhist faith. 1862 Trench Miracles Introd. 42. |
3. canonical epistles, more particularly, the seven catholic epistles of James, Peter, John, and Jude; also applied to certain epistles of St. Basil, etc. Also quasi-n., a canonical (obs.) = canon n.2 5.
(Ἐπιστολὴ κανονικὴ had various senses in ecclesiastical writers. In reference to the Catholic Epistles the meaning is disputed; in reference to those of St. Basil, it means ‘having the authority of a canon’.)
| [a 1225 see canonial.] 1561 J. Daus tr. Bullinger on Apoc. (1573) 292 He is greater, that is in vs (sayth S. John in his Canonicall) than is he that is in the world. 1755 Chambers Cycl. Supp., Canonical..or general epistles. |
4. gen. Of the nature of a canon or rule; of admitted authority, excellence, or supremacy; authoritative; orthodox, accepted; standard.
| 1553 T. Wilson Rhet. 67 Suche as all the worlde hathe confirmed and agreed upon, that it is autentique and canonical. 1603 H. Crosse Vertues Commw. (1878) 81 Wisedome vnder a ragged coate is seldome canonicall. 1651 Hobbes Govt. & Soc. xvii. §18. 315 There must bee some Canonicall Interpreter. 1796 Monthly Rev. XIX. 545 He..remained the canonical geographer of the antients. 1811 Ibid. LXV. 133 Before Polycletus had ascertained the canonical proportions of a beautiful human frame. 1868 Sat. Rev. 15 Aug. 229/1 Challenging all those who may be disinclined to accept his criticism as canonical. |
5. Math. Furnishing, or according to, a general rule or formula (see canon n.2 3).
| 1738 Logan in Rigaud Corr. Sci. Men (1841) I. 331 A true canonical equation or power. 1851 J. J. Sylvester (title) On a remarkable discovery in the Theory of Canonical forms of Hyperdeterminants. 1876 Salmon Higher Alg. xv. Art. 164 The simplest form to which a quantic can without loss of generality be reduced is called the canonical form of the quantic. |
6. Mus. According to the rules of canon, in canon form.
| 1609 Douland Ornith. Microl. 51 Virgular Syncopation is much vsed, Numerall seldome, Canonicall most seldome. 1869 Ouseley Counterp. xxiii. §15 Some fragmentary imitation or canonical episode. |
7. Of or belonging to an ecclesiastical chapter, or to one of its members (see canon n.2).
| 1579 Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. lxxx. §11 No other benefices but only their canonical portions. 1600 Ibid. viii. vii. §3 The very act of canonical election. 1634 Abp. Laud's Visit. Exeter in 4th Rep. Commiss. Hist. MSS. 138/2 A canonicall house, due to a canon residentiary. 1662 J. Bargrave Pope Alex. VII (1867) 116 At my Canonical house, at the metropolitical church of Christ, Canterbury. 1881 Freeman Subj. Lands Venice, Parenzo, Among the canonical buildings on the south side of the church. |
B. n. pl. [cf. academicals.] Canonical robes.
| 1748 Smollett Rod. Rand. ix, I did not at all wonder to find a cheat in canonicals. 1751 ― Per. Pic. (1779) IV. xcvi. 171 He was accosted by a person in canonicals. 1755 Connoisseur No. 65 Out of his canonicals, his constant dress is what they call parson's blue. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 327 An ecclesiastic in full canonicals. |