Petition /(?)/

Pe·ti·tion

Petition

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.
A formal written request addressed to an official person, or to an organized body, having power to grant it.
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. (Law)
The written document containing a petition (senses 1 or 2).

Petition of right: 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: the parliamentary declaration of the rights of the people, assented to by Charles I.

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.

v. i.