Meaning

verb declare (a dead person) to be a saint

verb treat as a sacred person

originFrom Late Middle English canonizen (“to declare as a saint; to appoint to an ecclesiastical office”), from Old French canonisier (modern French canoniser (“to canonize”)), or from its etymon Medieval Latin, Late Latin canōnizāre, the present active infinitive of Latin canōnizō (“to recognize as a saint, canonize; to declare as authoritative or official”), from Latin canōn (“measuring line;…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0