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.