on order—
1. said of smth. ordered or requested but not yet supplied:
- We have twenty F-16 planes on order with you. We placed that order five years ago.
2. in compliance with a request:
- They do it on order, and the only thing they check is to see that your bill with the other company is paid up.
3. according to orders received:
- The claim to be acting on order from a superior is not admissible as a defense against conviction.
Note: The expression does not fully correlate in meaning with the phrase to order— = on order 2:
- Most of the items displayed are manufactured to order only.
on orders—(also: under orders) = on order 3:
- When charged with withholding important information, he replied that he was only acting on orders.