| 单词 |
pecking order |
| 释义 |
pecking order|ˈpɛkɪŋ ˌɔːdə(r)|
[f. pecking vbl. n.1 + order n., tr. G. hackliste (T. J. Schjelderup-Ebbe 1922, in Zeitschr. für Psychologie LXXXVIII. 227).]
1. A pattern of behaviour first observed in hens and later recognized in other groups of social animals, in which those of high rank within the group are able to attack those of lower rank without provoking an attack in return.
1928A. Huxley Point Counter Point xxvi. 438 Observing the habitual and almost sacred ‘pecking order’ which prevails among the hens in his poultry yard..the politician will meditate on the Catholic hierarchy and Fascism. 1939Auk LVI. 263 A position in the pecking order is not..always determined at the first meeting. 1952M. K. Wilson tr. Lorenz's King Solomon's Ring xi. 147 This can be convincingly demonstrated by the existence of an order of rank, known to animal psychologists as the ‘pecking order’. 1965Listener 10 June 861/1 Normal monkeys, like many other kinds of animals, form a sort of pecking order. 1972Country Life 9 Mar. 541/1 The fat little bantam hen, who proved first in the pecking order..quickly asserted herself. 1974Times Lit. Suppl. 4 Oct. 1088/4 The term ‘pecking order’ has become part of common parlance... After a brief trial of strength, every animal in the flock or the herd learns to know its place.
2. transf. A hierarchy based on rank or status.
1955H. Nicolson Good Behaviour i. 7 In a perfect classless society..similar pecking orders must exist. 1957L. Durrell Justine i. 64 There is a Pecking Order among diplomats as there is among poultry. 1959G. Endore Detour through Devon 11 The pecking order obtains among cars on the road as well as among chickens in the barnyard. 1959T. H. White Godstone & Blackymor 172 The ghosts..may have taken precedence in a kind of pecking-order, by virtue of the number of pipes which they could claim. 1961Times Lit. Suppl. 29 Dec. 925/2 Man has animal instincts, instincts for desiring and holding territory and property, for creating a pecking order of dominance and hence status. 1962Observer 25 Nov. 3/2 One of the most disastrous weaknesses of our whole educational system is its insistence on preserving formal hierarchies, a sort of academic pecking order. 1967J. Potter Foul Play xvi. 184 The inspector had a pretty low rating in the CID's pecking order... His office overlooked an unbroken expanse of sooty wall. 1967M. Argyle Psychol. Interpersonal Behaviour iv. 70 Groups develop definite ‘pecking orders’ in terms of amount of speech and influence permitted. 1973Nature 30 Nov. 318/1 One of the interpenetrating pecking orders that bedevil life in universities is the hard science/soft science hierarchy. 1976H. Wilson Governance of Britain ii. 23 My own procedure was to rely on the order of precedence within the Cabinet, the so-called ‘pecking-order’, making clear that the second in the list chairs Cabinet. |
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