pecking order

  • 1Pecking order — or just peck order is a hierarchical system of social organization in animals. It was first described from the behaviour of poultry by Thorleif Schjelderup Ebbe in 1921 under the German terms Hackordnung or Hackliste and introduced into English… …

    Wikipedia

  • 2pecking order — ➔ order1 * * * pecking order UK US noun [C, usually singular] INFORMAL HR ► the level of importance of people in a social group, at work, etc: further/lower down the pecking order »Employees are lower down the pecking order in private equity than …

    Financial and business terms

  • 3pecking order — pecking orders N COUNT: usu sing The pecking order of a group is the way that the positions people have are arranged according to their status or power within the group. He knew his place in the pecking order... They both came from families… …

    English dictionary

  • 4pecking order — The pecking order is the order of importance or rank …

    The small dictionary of idiomes

  • 5pecking order — pecking .order n [singular] a social system within a group of people or animals in which each member knows who has a higher or lower rank than themselves ▪ Nobody wants to be at the bottom of the pecking order …

    Dictionary of contemporary English

  • 6pecking order — ☆ pecking order n. [calque of Ger hackordnung] 1. a hierarchy among birds, as a flock of hens, based on aggressive pecking in which the most dominant bird pecks all others, the second most dominant bird pecks all others except the most dominant,… …

    English World dictionary

  • 7pecking order — [n] hierarchy chain of command*, corporate ladder, due order, echelons, grouping, order, placing, position, ranking, scale; concept 727 …

    New thesaurus

  • 8pecking order — ► NOUN ▪ a hierarchy of status among members of a group, originally as observed among hens …

    English terms dictionary

  • 9Pecking Order — Infobox Game title = Pecking Order image link = image caption = designer =Richard Garfield illustrator = publisher = Winning Moves players = 2 ages = 8 and up setup time = 5 minutes playing time = 5 15 minutes random chance = Low skills =… …

    Wikipedia

  • 10pecking order — UK [ˈpekɪŋ ˌɔː(r)də(r)] / US [ˈpekɪŋ ˌɔrdər] noun [countable] Word forms pecking order : singular pecking order plural pecking orders the order of power or importance within a group of people or animals …

    English dictionary