Petition

5 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [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]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

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

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  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]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  petition
       n 1: a formal message requesting something that is submitted to
            an authority [syn: {request}, {postulation}]
       2: reverent petition to a deity [syn: {prayer}, {orison}]
       v : write a petition for something to somebody; request formally
           and in writing

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  80 Moby Thesaurus words for "petition":
     Angelus, Ave, Ave Maria, Hail Mary, Kyrie Eleison, Paternoster,
     address, aid prayer, appeal, appeal to, application, apply for,
     apply to, ask, asking, beadroll, beads, beg, beseech, beseechment,
     bidding prayer, breviary, call on, call upon, chaplet,
     circulate a petition, collect, commune with God, communion,
     contemplation, demand, desire, devotions, entreat, entreaty,
     expressed desire, give thanks, grace, impetration, imploration,
     implore, importune, imprecation, indent, intercession, invocation,
     invoke, litany, make supplication, meditation, memorialize,
     obsecration, obtestation, offer a prayer, orison, plea, plead,
     pray, pray over, prayer, prayer wheel, prefer a petition,
     recite the rosary, request, requisition, return thanks, rogation,
     rosary, say grace, sign a petition, silent prayer, solicit,
     solicitation, sue, suit, supplicate, supplication, thanks,
     thanksgiving, wish