PETITION • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Petition

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/pətˈɪʃən/ Listen

noun

Petition n.

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." "This last petition heard of all her prayer."

2.

A formal written request addressed to an official person, or to an organized body, having power to grant it.

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.

4.

The written document containing a petition (senses 1 or 2).

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.

The Petition of Right (Eng. Hist.), the parliamentary declaration of the rights of the people, assented to by Charles I.

verb

Petition v. t. (past & past part. petitioned; pres. part. 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."

Petition v. i. To make a petition or solicitation.

See images of 'Petition'

Etymology of 'Petition'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Petition" Quotes from Famous Books

... that was good never to cross the path of the Ferns, or Roseleaf, or any of their friends again. When his treaties brought no verbal response he grew louder in his tone, feeling that something must be done to move the deaf ears to which he addressed his petition. ...

— A Black Adonis • Linn Boyd Porter

... the Greater Phrygia as this country south of Bithynia and west of Galatia was called,[546] there were two claimants.[547] The kings of Pontus and Bithynia competed for the prize, and each supported his petition by a reference to the history of the past. Nicomedes of Bithynia could urge that his grandsire Prusias had maintained an attitude of friendly neutrality during Rome's struggle with Antiochus. The Pontic king, Mithradates Euergetes, advanced ...

— A History of Rome, Vol 1 - During the late Republic and early Principate • A H.J. Greenidge

... the first opportunity taken to intercede in his favour. But, so far from succeeding, it served only to irritate the emperor the more, who forbade all persons, even the empress, to speak for the prisoner, and, above all, to present any petition on the subject, under the pain of ...

— Heads and Tales • Various

... brought to him a petition signed by 800 clergymen, praying that they be not compelled to wear the surplice, nor make the sign of the cross at baptism—he said they were "vipers," and if they did not submit to the authority of ...

— The Evolution of an Empire • Mary Parmele

... of ill-luck. You had not yet returned, and she was writing her petition to ask leave to go to France or to send you there, when I heard the gallop of a horse. It was a courier from the governor general of Siberia. He brought us orders to change our residence; within three ...

— The Wandering Jew, Complete • Eugene Sue

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