DICT.TW Dictionary Taiwan

 Pe·ti·tion 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.   --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.
 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. --Mozley & W.
 The Petition of Right Eng. Hist., the parliamentary declaration of the rights of the people, assented to by Charles I.