a collection of books accepted as holy scripture especially the books of the Bible recognized by any Christian church as genuine and inspired
a complete list of saints that have been recognized by the Roman Catholic Church
a rule or especially body of rules or principles generally established as valid and fundamental in a field or art or philosophy; "the neoclassical canon"; "canons of polite society"
a contrapuntal piece of music in which a melody in one part is imitated exactly in other parts
a reproduction of a written record (e.g. of a legal or school record)
something that has been transcribed; a written record (usually typewritten) of dictated or recorded speech; "he read a transcript of the interrogation"; "you can obtain a transcript of this radio program by sending a self-addressed envelope to the station"
the profession or art of a writer; "her place in literature is secure"
the humanistic study of a body of literature; "he took a course in Russian lit"
creative writing of recognized artistic value
published writings in a particular style on a particular subject; "the technical literature"; "one aspect of Waterloo has not yet been treated in the literature"
the activity of putting something in written form; "she did the thinking while he did the writing"
the act of creating written works; "writing was a form of therapy for him"; "it was a matter of disputed authorship"
letters or symbols written or imprinted on a surface to represent the sounds or words of a language; "he turned the paper over so the writing wouldn't show"; "the doctor's writing was illegible"
the work of a writer; anything expressed in letters of the alphabet (especially when considered from the point of view of style and effect); "the writing in her novels is excellent"; "that editorial was a fine piece of writing"
(usually plural) the collected work of an author; "the idea occurs with increasing frequency in Hemingway's writings"