pecking order, Basic pattern of social organization within a flock of poultry in which each bird pecks another lower in the scale without fear of retaliation and submits to pecking by one of higher rank.

How do you use pecking order in a sentence?

It gave the youngsters time to settle down, to achieve a pecking order and to learn from each other. All administrations put the arts very low down the pecking order. We are lower in the pecking order than he suggests. Where has education slipped to in the pecking order?

Why is it called pecking order?

What's the origin of the phrase 'Pecking order'?

from the social behaviour of hens. The form of social organisation called a pecking order was first observed in domestic hens. ... The dominance is established and maintained by pecking. The more dominant peck the less dominant and so on down the chain.