\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.