n. [ LL. hierarcha, Gr. &unr_;; "iero`s sacred (akin to Skr. ishiras vigorous, fresh, blooming) + &unr_; leader, ruler, fr. &unr_; to lead, rule: cf. F. hiérarque.] One who has high and controlling authority in sacred things; the chief of a sacred order; as, princely hierarchs. Milton.

{ } a. Pertaining to a hierarch. “The great hierarchal standard.” Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Cf. F. hiérarchique. ] Of or pertaining to a hierarchy; ordered in a hierarchy. -- Hi`er*arch`ic*al*ly, adv. Syn. -- hierarchical, hierarchal. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Pertaining to a transitive relation between objects by which they may be ordered into a hierarchy; as, a hierarchical relation. [ PJC ]

n. The principles or authority of a hierarchy. [ 1913 Webster ]

The more dominant hierarchism of the West. Milman. [ 1913 Webster ]

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 ]