Petition
Petition , noun
[French pétition, Latin petitio, from petere, petitum, to beg, ask, seek; perh. akin to English feather, or find.]
1.
A prayer; a supplication; an imploration; an entreaty; especially, a request of a solemn or formal kind; a prayer to the Supreme Being, or to a person of superior power, rank, or authority; also, a single clause in such a prayer.
A house of prayer and petition for thy people.
This last petition heard of all her prayer.
2.
A formal written request addressed to an official person, or to an organized body, having power to grant it.
3.
(Law) A request to government, in either of its branches, for the granting of a particular grace or right, or for the legislature to take a specific action; -- in distinction from a memorial, which calls certain facts to mind. The petition may be signed by one or any number of persons.
4.
The written document containing a petition (senses 1 or 2).
Collocations (2)
Petition of right (Law) , a petition to obtain possession or restitution of property, either real or personal, from the Crown, which suggests such a title as controverts the title of the Crown, grounded on facts disclosed in the petition itself. — Mozley & W
The Petition of Right (Eng. Hist.) , the parliamentary declaration of the rights of the people, assented to by Charles I.
Petition , transitive verb
To make a prayer or request to; to ask from; to solicit; to entreat; especially, to make a formal written supplication, or application to, as to any branch of the government; as, to petition the court; to petition the governor.
You have... petitioned all the gods for my prosperity.
Petition , intransitive verb
To make a petition or solicitation.