The meaning of the idiom pecking order is a hierarchy of status that is seen among members of a group of people or animals, which was originally as observed among hens.
The pecking order is the hierarchy of dominance within a flock, establishing of order in chicken society and allowing everyone to coexist peacefully.
Pecking orders are a natural behavior, which ensures survival and stability for each member of the group, but just like in human politics you can also bet that it involves lots of squabbling.
Fallen down the pecking order means that someone has lost their status or influence or even priority in a social hierarchy and has become less important or subordinate.
The meaning of the saying that someone has fallen down the pecking order is similar to that of a chicken in a flock being pushed down lower by more dominant birds who also get first access to food, better spots or mates.
Fallen down the pecking order basically is what signifies a drop from a higher rank to a lower rank, often due to being challenged for failing to maintain one's position.
The term fallen down the pecking order, comes from actual chicken flocks, in which the dominant birds peck subordinate ones to establish who eats, who roosts and or who mates first.
For hierarchy in human groups, work, family and society, fallen down the pecking order refers to a ranking of importance, privilege or power.
Losing rank in fallen down the pecking order is to fall down, which means moving from a higher tier to a lower tier, losing advantages.
Examples of the use of fallen down the pecking order include.
In business, the fallen down the pecking order could be that a manager who makes a bad decision, might find that their ideas carry less weight, so they fall down the company's internal pecking order.
In social groups, fallen down a pecking order can refer to, a once popular friend who becomes unreliable, and so they may be pushed to the fringes and lower down the social pecking order.
Or another example of fallen down the pecking order would be.
The sibling with greatest status is at the top of the order, and the sibling with the least status is at the bottom.
This order is what is called a pecking order.