[W/K] :: Hierarchies

  Hierarchy \Hi"er*arch`y\ (h[imac]"[~e]r*[aum]rk`[y^]), n.; pl.
     Hierarchies (h[imac]"[~e]r*[aum]rk`[i^]z). [Gr.
     'ierarchi`a: cf. F. hi['e]rarchie.]
     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.
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     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.
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              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.
  
     Note: Classification schemes, as in biology, usually form
           hierarchies.
           [PJC]