Sin \Sin\, n. [OE. sinne, AS. synn, syn; akin to D. zonde, OS.
   sundia, OHG. sunta, G. s["u]nde, Icel., Dan. & Sw. synd, L.
   sons, sontis, guilty, perhaps originally from the p. pr. of
   the verb signifying, to be, and meaning, the one who it is.
   Cf. Authentic, Sooth.]
   1. Transgression of the law of God; disobedience of the
      divine command; any violation of God's will, either in
      purpose or conduct; moral deficiency in the character;
      iniquity; as, sins of omission and sins of commission.
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            Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.
                                                  --John viii.
                                                  34.
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            Sin is the transgression of the law.  --1 John iii.
                                                  4.
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            I think 't no sin.
            To cozen him that would unjustly win. --Shak.
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            Enthralled
            By sin to foul, exorbitant desires.   --Milton.
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   2. An offense, in general; a violation of propriety; a
      misdemeanor; as, a sin against good manners.
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            I grant that poetry's a crying sin.   --Pope.
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   3. A sin offering; a sacrifice for sin.
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            He hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin.
                                                  --2 Cor. v.
                                                  21.
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   4. An embodiment of sin; a very wicked person. [R.]
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            Thy ambition,
            Thou scarlet sin, robbed this bewailing land
            Of noble Buckingham.                  --Shak.
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   Note: Sin is used in the formation of some compound words of
         obvious signification; as, sin-born; sin-bred,
         sin-oppressed, sin-polluted, and the like.
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   Actual sin, Canonical sins, Original sin, Venial sin.
      See under Actual, Canonical, etc.

   Deadly sins, or Mortal sins (R. C. Ch.), willful and
      deliberate transgressions, which take away divine grace;
      -- in distinction from vental sins. The seven deadly sins
      are pride, covetousness, lust, wrath, gluttony, envy, and
      sloth.

   Sin eater, a man who (according to a former practice in
      England) for a small gratuity ate a piece of bread laid on
      the chest of a dead person, whereby he was supposed to
      have taken the sins of the dead person upon himself.

   Sin offering, a sacrifice for sin; something offered as an
      expiation for sin.
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   Syn: Iniquity; wickedness; wrong. See Crime.
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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.
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   2. Appearing in a Biblical canon; as, a canonical book of the
      Christian New Testament.
      [PJC]

   3. Accepted as authoritative; recognized.
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   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.
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