Pe*ti"tion (?), n. [F. p'etition, 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.

 

© Webster 1913.


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.

 

© Webster 1913.


Pe*ti"tion, v. i.

To make a petition or solicitation.

 

© Webster 1913.

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