Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of 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.
\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.
\Pe*ti"tion\, v. i. To make a petition or solicitation.