Petition

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

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.
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            A house of prayer and petition for thy people. --1
                                                  Macc. vii. 37.
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            This last petition heard of all her prayer.
                                                  --Dryden.
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   2. A formal written request addressed to an official person,
      or to an organized body, having power to grant it.
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   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.
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   4. The written document containing a {petition} (senses 1 or
      2).
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   {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.
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Petition \Pe*ti"tion\, v. i.
   To make a petition or solicitation.
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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.
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         You have . . . petitioned all the gods for my
         prosperity.                              --Shak.
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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