petition

Noun · Verb
Synonyms: requestpostulationprayerorison

WordNet 3.0

Noun (2)

  1. a formal message requesting something that is submitted to an authoritySynonyms: requestpostulation
  2. reverent petition to a deitySynonyms: prayerorison

Verb (1)

  1. write a petition for something to somebody; request formally and in writing
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Webster's Dictionary (GCIDE)

Petition \Pe*ti"tion\, n. [F. p['e]tition, L. petitio, fr. petere, petitum, to beg, ask, seek; perh. akin to E. 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. [1913 Webster]

A house of prayer and petition for thy people.— 1 Macc. vii. 37.[1913 Webster]
This last petition heard of all her prayer.— Dryden.[1913 Webster]

2.A formal written request addressed to an official person, or to an organized body, having power to grant it. [1913 Webster]

3.Specifically: (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. [1913 Webster + PJC]

4.The written document containing a petition (senses 1 or 2). [1913 Webster]

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. [1913 Webster]

Petition \Pe*ti"tion\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Petitioned; p. pr. & vb. n. Petitioning.] 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. [1913 Webster]

You have . . . petitioned all the gods for my prosperity. --Shak. [1913 Webster]

Petition \Pe*ti"tion\, v. i. To make a petition or solicitation. [1913 Webster]
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