4  definitions  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  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. 
 
  You  have  .  .  .  petitioned  all  the  gods  for  my 
  prosperity.  --Shak. 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  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. 
 
  A  house  of  prayer  and  petition  for  thy  people.  --1 
  Macc.  vii.  37. 
 
  This  last  petition  heard  of  all  her  prayer. 
  --Dryden. 
 
  2.  A  formal  written  request  addressed  to  an  official  person, 
  or  to  an  organized  body,  having  power  to  grant  it 
  specifically  (Law),  a  supplication  to  government,  in 
  either  of  its  branches,  for  the  granting  of  a  particular 
  grace  or  right  --  in  distinction  from  a  memorial,  which 
  calls  certain  facts  to  mind;  also  the  written  document. 
 
  {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. 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Petition  \Pe*ti"tion\,  v.  i. 
  To  make  a  petition  or  solicitation. 
 
  From  WordNet  r  1.6  [wn]: 
 
  petition 
  n  1:  a  formal  message  requesting  something  submitted  to  an 
  authority  [syn:  {request}] 
  2:  reverent  petition  to  a  deity  [syn:  {prayer},  {communion},  {orison}] 
  v  :  write  a  petition  for  something  to  somebody;  request  formally 
  and  in  writing 

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