totem pole
- a pole or post carved and painted with totems, often erected in front of their dwellings by Indian tribes of the NW coast of North America
- a hierarchical system: at the top of the educational totem pole
See totem pole in American Heritage Dictionary 4
noun- A post carved and painted with a series of family or clan crests or with figures representing mythic beings and erected usually before a dwelling, as among certain Native American peoples of the northwest coast of North America.
- Slang A hierarchy: low on the totem pole.
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