hierarchy

n.; pl. Hierarchies [ Gr. 'ierarchi`a: cf. F. hiérarchie. ] 1. Dominion or authority in sacred things. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A body of officials disposed organically in ranks and orders each subordinate to the one above it; a body of ecclesiastical rulers. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A form of government administered in the church by patriarchs, metropolitans, archbishops, bishops, and, in an inferior degree, by priests. Shipley. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A rank or order of holy beings. [ 1913 Webster ]

Standards and gonfalons . . . for distinction serve
Of hierarchies, of orders, and degrees. Milton.

5. (Math., Logic, Computers) Any group of objects ranked so that every one but the topmost is subordinate to a specified one above it; also, the entire set of ordering relations between such objects. The ordering relation between each object and the one above is called a hierarchical relation. Classification schemes, as in biology, usually form hierarchies. [ PJC ]