pecking order

Also found in: Dictionary, Thesaurus, Financial, Idioms, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia.

peck·ing or·der

in some species of birds and primates, the establishment of a graded dominance in members of a group by the use of aggression.

pecking order

the gradation of behavioural dominance between individuals in active groups of mammals and birds. The leader is dominant, and thus at the top of the ‘pecking order’ getting the best food and mates, the least dominant animal being at the bottom of the order. Birds often show bald patches where they have been pecked by dominant individuals.

Mentioned in ?

References in periodicals archive ?

As the breeding season gets under way, the pecking order among birds becomes even more pronounced as cock birds try to establish their dominance, striving to achieve a place at the top of that pecking order in order to attract a mate.

Getting a bird's eye view as nature's pecking order plays out

Another theory to explain the presence of debt financing in business organizations was the 'Pecking Order Theory' proposing that a firm prefers financing itself internally first, through its retained earnings.

Why Do Firms Borrow? Is it a Need or Simply a Pursuit of Optimal Debt Ratio?

Star Trek may have made him a celebrity in the US, but Patrick Stewart was still way down the Hollywood pecking order

The land of the free? You've yet to make it so, Stewart tells America

Among these theories, the most heavily discussed and empirically tested theories are the trade-off theory and the pecking order theory.

Is negative profitability-leverage relation the only support for the pecking order theory in case of Pakistani firms?

The Coal Tit appears to be somewhere near the bottom of this bird feeder pecking order. One of the smaller types of tit, this nervous bird flits on to and then quickly off the feeder, staying only the briefest of moments to collect a solitary seed before flashing off to the safety of the nearby undergrowth.

Fascination of the bird feeder pecking order; Nature Notes

He hasn't really shown the form that he's capable of so he's slipped down the pecking order a bit.

Harry is happy for Pav to stay at Tottenham; ROUND-UP

This paper extends the basic pecking order model of Shyam-Sunder and Myers by separating the effects of financing surpluses, normal deficits, and large deficits.

The impact of financing surpluses and large financing deficits on tests of the pecking order theory

When asked about pecking order in the striker department Mogga said: "Marc-Antoine Fortune's at the front of the queue.

YOU'RE NOT MY No.1 HITMAN ROBBIE; He's on pounds 65k a week and the new Celtic idol but.

It's another example of how low racing comes in the BBC's pecking order and this is something I feel very strongly about.

BBC must reconsider; A BIT ON THE SIDE

The centre-half, who signed for Dundee in 2004, has fallen down the pecking order at Dens.