Noun

(uncountable)   The act of regulating or the condition of being regulated.

(countable)   A law or administrative rule, issued by an organization, used to guide or prescribe the conduct of members of that organization.

*{{quote-magazine, date=2013-05-17

, author=George Monbiot, authorlink=George Monbiot , title=Money just makes the rich suffer , volume=188, issue=23, page=19 , magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) citation , passage=In order to grant the rich these pleasures, the social contract is reconfigured. […]  The public realm is privatised, the regulations restraining the ultra-wealthy and the companies they control are abandoned, and Edwardian levels of inequality are almost fetishised.}}

* Army regulations state a soldier AWOL over 30 days is a deserter.

(European Union law) A form of legislative act which is self-effecting, and requires no further intervention by the Member States to become law.

(lb) Mechanism controlling DNA transcription.

(lb) Physiological process which consists in maintaining homoeostasis.

Noun

(en noun)

A generally accepted principle; a rule.

The trial must proceed according to the canons of law.

* Shakespeare

Or that the Everlasting had not fixed His canon 'gainst self-slaughter.

(literary) A group of literary works that are generally accepted as representing a field.

(turn into real quote) "the durable canon of American short fiction" — William Styron

The works of a writer that have been accepted as authentic.

the entire Shakespeare canon

A eucharistic prayer, particularly the Roman Canon.

A religious law or body of law decreed by the church.

We must proceed according to canon law.

A catalogue of saints acknowledged and canonized in the Roman Catholic Church.

In monasteries, a book containing the rules of a religious order.

A member of a cathedral chapter; one who possesses a prebend in a cathedral or collegiate church.

A piece of music in which the same melody is played by different voices, but beginning at different times; a round.

Pachelbel’s ''Canon'' has become very popular.

(fandom) Those sources, especially including literary works, which are generally considered authoritative regarding a given fictional universe.

A spin-off book series revealed the aliens to be originally from Earth, but it's not canon .

(cookery) A rolled and filleted loin of meat.

a canon of beef or lamb

(printing) The largest size of type with a specific name, formerly used for printing the canons of the church.

(senseid)The part of a bell by which it is suspended; the ear or shank of a bell.

(Knight)

(billiards) A carom.