pe·ti·tion /pəˈtɪʃən/
 請願,訴狀,陳情書(vt.)(vi.)請求,懇求,請願


 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.


 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.

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