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noun
Petition  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." "This last petition heard of all her prayer."
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.
The Petition of Right (Eng. Hist.), the parliamentary declaration of the rights of the people, assented to by Charles I.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Petition" Quotes from Famous Books



... officers took down the name and images of Vitellius. Caecina, for he was still in confinement, they released from his fetters, and desired his aid in pleading their cause with the conqueror. He heard their petition with disdain, swelling with insolence, while they importuned him with tears; the last stage of human misery, when so many brave and gallant men were obliged to sue to a traitor for protection! They then hung out from the walls ...
— The Best of the World's Classics, Restricted to prose. Volume II (of X) - Rome • Various

... thought myself upon a stage, assisting in the representation of a tragedy,—in which the king played his own part, of the king; Mrs. Delany that of a venerable confidante; Mr. Dewes, his respectful attendant;Miss Port, a suppliant Virgin, waiting encouragement to bring forward some petition; Miss Dewes, a young orphan, intened to move the royal compassion; and myself,—a very solemn, sober, and ...
— The Diary and Letters of Madame D'Arblay Volume 1 • Madame D'Arblay

... the Assembly's petition for a change to royal government, Franklin presented it, but never pressed it. He, too, was finally convinced that the time was inopportune. In fact, the Assembly itself before long began to have doubts and fears and sent him word to let the subject drop; and amid much greater ...
— The Quaker Colonies - A Chronicle of the Proprietors of the Delaware, Volume 8 - in The Chronicles Of America Series • Sydney G. Fisher

... said the soldier with a voice and look of compassion, "I will shew you the way with all my heart; but if you are going to make a petition to Madam Crayton it is all to no purpose I assure you: if you please I will conduct you to Mr. Franklin's; though Miss Julia is married and gone now, yet the ...
— Charlotte Temple • Susanna Rowson

... reflection, he then fixed upon a plan : "I will set the Literary Club(338) upon him!" he cried: "Miss Burney has some very true admirers there, and I am sure they will all eagerly assist. We will present him a petition—an address." ...
— The Diary and Letters of Madam D'Arblay Volume 2 • Madame D'Arblay

... "Oh, a petition, signed by a thousand sleepy citizens, was sent down here to my managing editor, and I was requested to come away. Thus was my Milwaukee career ended, but it ended in a blaze that dazzled the eyes of the old-timers." He cut a scallop. ...
— The Colossus - A Novel • Opie Read

... gravity, assemble themselves at the capitol, and what time they sleep not away the tedious hours in their ivory chairs, they debate such high matters as, 'whether the tax which this year falls heavy upon Capua, by reason of a blast upon the grapes, shall be lightened or remitted!' or 'whether the petition of the Milanese for the construction at the public expense of a granary shall be answered favorably!' or 'whether V. P. Naso shall be granted a new trial after defeat at the highest court!' Not that there is not virtue in the senate, some dignity, some respect and love for the ...
— Aurelian - or, Rome in the Third Century • William Ware

... that could be done, the American Consul at Beirut, who took a deep interest in the case, addressed a letter to Soleiman Pasha, next in power to Ibrahim, who was then at Sidon on his way to Beirut. This was favorably received, and the Pasha expressed his wish that the family would send a petition to him, that he might be ready to judge the case when he should arrive at Beirut. This was accordingly done, and the requisite evidence was made ready. The poor man received his food daily from his missionary friend, with messages of cheer, and ...
— History Of The Missions Of The American Board Of Commissioners For Foreign Missions To The Oriental Churches, Volume I. • Rufus Anderson

... expences, which, though not extravagant, were more than his little purse could supply, he had broke into some money given him to pay his taylor, whom he feared would demand it of his father, and he knew not how far the ill-will of his mother-in-law might exaggerate the matter; concluding with an humble petition for twenty guineas, which he told him he would ...
— Life's Progress Through The Passions - Or, The Adventures of Natura • Eliza Fowler Haywood

... said Merry well, "glad to see you—was just going to scribble a line to inform you of my disaster. Zounds! you look as melancholy as the first line of an humble petition, or the author of a new piece the ...
— Real Life In London, Volumes I. and II. • Pierce Egan

... moment, doctor," cried Sir John. "Here is some one of a different opinion. This foolish fellow has been laying before us his petition." ...
— Jack at Sea - All Work and no Play made him a Dull Boy • George Manville Fenn

... by the incursions of the Danes. Kindred folk to the Anglo-Saxons were these Danes, these Vikings from Christiania Wik, these Northmen from Norway or Iceland, whose fame went before them, and the dread of whom inspired the petition in the old Litany of the Church, "From the fury of the Northmen, good Lord, deliver us!" Their fair hair and blue or grey eyes, their tall and muscular frames, bore testimony to their kinship with the races they harried and plundered, but their spirit was different ...
— Hero-Myths & Legends of the British Race • Maud Isabel Ebbutt

... around and march out, and don't come here again with your begging petition, or I'll have you taken ...
— City Crimes - or Life in New York and Boston • Greenhorn

... wicked, thought Philip, and impious, to pray for luck; he felt that perhaps he ought not to ask a blessing upon the sort of labor that was only a venture; but yet in that daily petition, which this very faulty and not very consistent young Christian gentleman put up, he prayed earnestly enough for Ruth and for the Boltons and for those whom he loved and who trusted in him, and that his life might not be a misfortune to them and a ...
— The Gilded Age, Complete • Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner

... department, and he could only refer them to the Scheik Islam, or to the Reis Effendi, either of whom, on his recommendation,—and he desired George to convey to them his humble respects,—would grant the object of their petition. He prayed to God they might ...
— Journal of a Visit to Constantinople and Some of the Greek Islands in the Spring and Summer of 1833 • John Auldjo

... Anabaptists (here called Mennonists), etc. No jealousy seems to have arisen over this multiplication of sects until, in 1652, the Dutch Lutherans, who had been attendants at the Dutch Reformed Church, presented a respectful petition that they might be permitted to have their own pastor and church. Denied by Governor Stuyvesant, the request was presented to the Company and to the States-General. The two Reformed pastors used the most strenuous endeavors through the classis of Amsterdam to defeat the ...
— A History of American Christianity • Leonard Woolsey Bacon

... the petition of his guest, and accompanied him all the way to the nearest thoroughfare. When now Janaki beheld the Bosphorus, and perceived that the road from this point was familiar to him, so that he needed no further assistance, he ...
— Halil the Pedlar - A Tale of Old Stambul • Mr Jkai

... deliberate on what were best to be done. It was resolved to send a deputation to Paris to try to obtain from Napoleon the relinquishment, or at least a modification, of his demand. Their efforts were in vain; Napoleon's attitude was peremptory. The Hague Committee must within a week petition that Louis Bonaparte might be their king, or he would take the matter into his own hands. The Committee, despite the opposition of Schimmelpenninck, finding resistance hopeless, determined to yield. The deputation at Paris was instructed accordingly ...
— History of Holland • George Edmundson

... frauds committed upon Indians? Or should we keep clear of these matters, avoid discussion of official methods and action, and simply aim at arousing racial pride and ambition along new lines, holding up a modern ideal for the support and encouragement of our youth? Should we petition Congress and in general continue along the lines of the older Indian associations? Or should we rather do intensive work among our people, looking especially toward ...
— The Indian Today - The Past and Future of the First American • Charles A. Eastman

... Murray," said the captain sharply, as he became aware of the presence of the lad, who touched his cap. "What is it—a petition?" ...
— Hunting the Skipper - The Cruise of the "Seafowl" Sloop • George Manville Fenn

... to the charge of superintending Perry's education, everything was prepared for their departure; and Tom Pipes, in consequence of his own petition, put into livery, and appointed footman to the young squire. But, before they set out, the commodore paid the compliment of communicating his design to Mr. Pickle, who approved of the plan, though he durst not venture to see the boy; so much was he intimidated by the remonstrances ...
— The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle, Volume I • Tobias Smollett

... Upsala petitioned Linnaeus to return, and the man who headed the petition was the one who had driven him away and who came near being killed for his pains. Linnaeus and his wife went to ...
— Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great - Volume 12 - Little Journeys to the Homes of Great Scientists • Elbert Hubbard

... was once famous also as the dwelling place of an eminent parson, who obtained a million signatures for a petition to N. Romanoff, asking the abolition of knouting of women in Siberia. And now N. Romanoff himself is gone to Siberia, and there is no knouting or giving in knoutage; no pogroms or ukases or any ...
— Shandygaff • Christopher Morley

... for the strong support of Paolo Cagliari's friendly presence, as they went together to the Sala di Collegio in the Ducal Palace; for this seemed to the young noble an opportunity, that might never come again, of presenting his petition to ears not all unfavorable; and there was a thrill of triumph in the thought that his maiden speech before this august body should be his plea for Marina's admission to the favor of the Signoria. Already fortune ...
— A Golden Book of Venice • Mrs. Lawrence Turnbull

... me that I had still two or three minutes to spare; and my guilty remembrance of the message that I had pinned to the door suggested an immediate expression of regret. I approached Cristel with a petition for pardon on my lips. She looked distrustfully at the door of communication with the new cottage, as if she expected to see it opened from the ...
— The Guilty River • Wilkie Collins

... Edward the Second to the care of Thomas de Houk, with her nurse and a large household; she remained in his charge "for three years and more," according to his petition presented to the King, May 1st, 1327 (Rot. Claus., 1 Edward the Third.) On the previous 1st of January, the Queen had sent to the Prioress of Watton a similar mandate to that mentioned above, requiring that ...
— In Convent Walls - The Story of the Despensers • Emily Sarah Holt

... aspect of the sea, when the waves were suddenly turned into blood, simply and solely signified the defeat of Norway, and was a plain presage of the victory of Denmark. And when Fridleif sent a further embassy to ask for her, wishing to vanquish the refusal by persistency, Amund was indignant that a petition he had once denied should be obstinately pressed, and hurried the envoys to death, wishing to offer a brutal check to the zeal of this brazen wooer. Fridleif heard news of this outrage, and summoning Halfdan and Biorn, sailed round Norway. Amund, equipped with his native defences, put out his ...
— The Danish History, Books I-IX • Saxo Grammaticus ("Saxo the Learned")

... his broken English the half-breed's speech it appeared that there was something worth learning. At this big meeting held in Batoche it seemed a petition of rights, to the Dominion Parliament no less, had been drawn up, and besides this many plans had been formed and many promises made of reward for all those who dared to stand for their rights under the leadership ...
— The Patrol of the Sun Dance Trail • Ralph Connor

... war about prices. It was a second to the last delegation which the farmers intend to send to Ottawa. The next one was in 1918, when the farmers went to protest against conscription. If you ask T. A. Crerar to-day, he will predict that in days not far to come manufacturers will petition a farmer government in Ottawa. Because the farmers in the West regard Crerar as almost a geological process, which sometimes results in ...
— The Masques of Ottawa • Domino

... Order of Polish Exiles.' The individuals constituting it were lighter of person and complexion than the reds; and, too, there was about them an air of melancholy which at once touched the tender of my feelings. They bore with them a long petition, and humbly but devoutly prayed America to make their cause her own (here they produced several of Saunders' circulars): they asked only to enlist in her bond of brotherhood. Long had they waited the coming of this day—the day when she would invade Europe, and fight the battle ...
— The Adventures of My Cousin Smooth • Timothy Templeton

... with a smile:—Let us make our petition to Parmenides himself, who is quite right in saying that you are hardly aware of the extent of the task which you are imposing on him; and if there were more of us I should not ask him, for these are not subjects which any one, ...
— Parmenides • Plato

... And this petition old Tafi did not mumble between the two or three teeth he had left, but spoke it out in a loud, strong voice, persuaded it is the singing, as they say, makes the song, and that if you want to be heard, it is best to shout. Thus it came about that Master Tafi's ...
— The Well of Saint Clare • Anatole France

... stay as she was and die an old maid forever! This was the subject of Uncle Joseph's prayer, a prayer which set the little hired girl to tittering, and would have wrung a smile from Maddy herself had she not felt all the strange petition implied. ...
— Aikenside • Mary J. Holmes

... indictment, was turned over to bishop Bonner to see if any heresy could be found in him. After a tedious persecution he was set at liberty in 1555, and was so little subdued by what he had suffered, that in the following year he presented a petition to the queen, requesting her co-operation in a plan for preserving and recovering certain monuments ...
— Lives of the Necromancers • William Godwin

... in the fire. He daren't appear at the flat, or some of his creditors would cop him for debt—it's watched day and night, I know. Just let it alone. I'd no idea he was hiding in this region or I wouldn't have brought you. We all want him to get clear. He might file his petition, but it would only rake up all the old scandals, and they know pretty well there's nothing to be got out ...
— Jan and Her Job • L. Allen Harker

... but I was promoted from the ranks on the petition of every member of the first company, and all the officers of the squadron except my father," replied Deck; and there was a blush on his wet cheeks, for he feared that the military official would conclude that he had been raised to his present ...
— A Lieutenant at Eighteen • Oliver Optic

... acquainted with the object of my interview with the Duke of Dorset, as he proved to be. This happened to be a very fortunate rencontre for me, as Lady Jerningham eventually turned out to be my "friend at court," and had seconded my petition ...
— Confessions of an Etonian • I. E. M.

... false judge, as telleth us the story, As he was wont, sat in his consistory, And gave his doomes* upon sundry case'; *judgments This false clerk came forth *a full great pace,* *in haste And saide; Lord, if that it be your will, As do me right upon this piteous bill,* *petition In which I plain upon Virginius. And if that he will say it is not thus, I will it prove, and finde good witness, That sooth is what my bille will express." The judge answer'd, "Of this, in his absence, I may not give definitive sentence. Let do* him ...
— The Canterbury Tales and Other Poems • Geoffrey Chaucer

... just in all that they said. They wanted to keep peace. None of them wished to be independent of England. Neither were they willing to submit to injustice and the loss of their rights and privileges. They wrote a petition to the King and letters to the people of England and of Canada. These papers were very fair and wise and showed the noble minds and loyal hearts of these early great Americans. They were not rebelling, they were simply declaring their rights. In reply, England only passed more unjust laws. The spirit ...
— George Washington • Calista McCabe Courtenay

... (1685-1691) had been Master of S. John's College, Cambridge, also Dean of Windsor and Bishop of Rochester. He was, with six other bishops, sent to the Tower in 1688 for presenting to the king a petition which was called a seditious libel. They were committed on June 8th and tried on June 29th. Amidst universal acclamations of joy and enthusiasm they were acquitted. In 1691 Bishop Turner, with Archbishop Sancroft and four other bishops, upon refusing to take ...
— Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Ely • W. D. Sweeting

... admitted to Godin's presence, he poured out his petition with the vehemence of one who can take no denial, urging his suit with all the eloquence of intense anxiety and deep conviction of the terrible extremity of the ...
— Elsie at Nantucket • Martha Finley

... (1867-1906).—Dau. of John Morgan, R. b. in Boston, Massachusetts. Most of her education was received in London and Paris, and from childhood she was a great reader and observer. At 19 she m. Mr. R.W. Craigie, but the union did not prove happy and was, on her petition, dissolved. In 1902 she became a Roman Catholic. She wrote, under the pseudonym of "John Oliver Hobbes," a number of novels and dramas, distinguished by originality of subject and treatment, brightness of humour, and finish of style, among which may be mentioned Some ...
— A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature • John W. Cousin

... the younger sisters, the result of which was that they met Abe in the morning with a unanimous petition. They could neither ask nor expect him to remain; that was ...
— Old Lady Number 31 • Louise Forsslund

... disclosed, in 1908, in the suit of the Government to dissolve the workings of the various railroad companies in the anthracite coal combination. [Footnote: See testimony brought out before Charles H. Guilbert, Examiner appointed by the United States District Court in Philadelphia. The Government's petition charged the defendants with entering into a conspiracy contrary to the letter and the spirit of the ...
— Great Fortunes from Railroads • Gustavus Myers

... alayde, be cause he taketh these thinges as prepared of God vnto all lyuyng creatures, and that they bee now yeoue vnto him of his gentyll and mercifull father, praier maketh euery thyng too sauour well. The petition in ye begynnyng of dyner sanctifieth all thynges and in a while after there is recited some holy lesson of the woorde of God: whiche more refresheth the minde, then meate the body, and grace after all this. Finally he riseth from the table, not ful: ...
— A Very Pleasaunt & Fruitful Diologe Called the Epicure • Desiderius Erasmus

... in opposition to Governor Legge's order was to petition against its enforcement. The petition from Cumberland referred to the destruction of the fort on the St. John River as "rather an act of inconsideration than otherwise," and then said, "those of us ...
— The Chignecto Isthmus And Its First Settlers • Howard Trueman

... fruit lying there like precious jewels, and in the midst of it the arm of Tom Dixon as it had been torn from his body, well washed, of course, my brothers, and very white against the blood-red fruit. And also he saw, clutched in the stiff, dead fingers, the petition of his slaves who ...
— When God Laughs and Other Stories • Jack London

... where questions of public concern could be debated and appropriate measures adopted. Implementation or execution of these measures would be placed in the hands of executive officers responsible to the parliament. As a safeguard against any miscarriage of the public will, the right of petition was guaranteed. In some instances the right of referendum and recall was provided. To obviate any miscarriage of justice, provision was made for courts, responsible to the citizenry, as an independent arm of government competent ...
— Civilization and Beyond - Learning From History • Scott Nearing

... Portuguese in India and the Eastern archipelago, and China. The continuance of this trade would, they think, ruin the prosperity of the settlements in India, and greatly injure the commerce of Spain, and deplete that country and her colonies of their coin. At Salazar's petition, he receives from the king (April 12, 1590) a grant of money toward the payment of debts incurred by him in procuring the rebuilding of Manila in stone. On June 20 of the same year, the members of the Audiencia, suppressed ...
— The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, V7, 1588-1591 • Emma Helen Blair

... a whole petition breathed into that softly uttered word. Mr. Morton heard it too, for he turned at once and then looked ...
— The Girl's Own Paper, Vol. VIII, No. 355, October 16, 1886 • Various

... Mr. Whyte, one of his creditors, petitioned the House to have Sheridan's name included. A very unusual motion was made, 'that petitioner shall not be put to his oath; but the facts set forth in his petition be admitted simply on his word.' The motion was seconded by an instantaneous Ay! Ay! without a dissenting voice. Sheridan wrote to Mr. Whyte:—'As the thing has passed with so much credit to me, the whole honour and ...
— The Life Of Johnson, Volume 3 of 6 • Boswell

... Poet of Renown, and who, if he would once speak his Mind, I make no question is Prouder of his Elegy upon Patridge, and his Sonnet on Miss Biddy Floyd, than of all His Prose Compositions together, or even that elegant Poem, call'd The Humble Petition of Frances Harris, which is the Pink ...
— Reflections on Dr. Swift's Letter to Harley (1712) and The British Academy (1712) • John Oldmixon

... articles, as ascription, confession, remorse, intercession, thanksgiving, deprecation, petition, &c. Ascription of honour and praise to the peerless, supreme Majesty of Heaven, and confession and deprecation, are to be uttered with all that humility of looks and gesture, which can exhibit the most profound self-abasement, and annihilation, ...
— The Young Gentleman and Lady's Monitor, and English Teacher's Assistant • John Hamilton Moore

... vicar. "Ours cometh never nigh us," said they, "this six months past; our children they die unchristened, and our folk unburied, except by some chance comer." Giles' influence baffled this just complaint once; but a second petition was prepared, and he gave Margaret little hope that the present position could be ...
— The Cloister and the Hearth • Charles Reade

... happened to wake and heard 'em speak of the brown house on the hill. Then I wanted to hear everything and I listened a purpose after that. Oh, Davy! Davy!" the child cried imploringly, sitting up in the bed and clasping his hands in petition; "don't do it, Davy; don't be a thief to please those wicked men; don't go robbing the brown house on ...
— The Alchemist's Secret • Isabel Cecilia Williams

... address of the soul to God. It is a solemn confession of some weakness, or thanksgiving for some benefit, or petition for some favour. But the Quakers consider such an address as deprived of its life and power, except it be spiritually conceived. [127] "For the spirit helpeth our infirmities. For we know not what we should ...
— A Portraiture of Quakerism, Volume II (of 3) • Thomas Clarkson

... inlaying, and making gold beads. They are usually hired by Sunars and paid by the piece. [480] They are intent on improving their social position and now claim to be Vishwa Brahmans, presumably in virtue of their descent from Viswa Karma, the celestial architect. At the census they submitted a petition begging to be classified as Brahmans, and to support their claim they employ members of their own caste to serve them as priests. But the majority of them permit the remarriage of widows, and do not wear the sacred thread. In other respects their ...
— The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India—Volume I (of IV) • R.V. Russell

... cousin Evelyn; I think I have been pretty tolerably tried! The Minister knows very well he could move the Monument sooner than me. I love the people; and am half mad to see that they have no love for themselves. Why do not they meet? Why do not they petition? Why do not they besiege the throne with their clamors? They are no better than beasts of burthen! If they were any thing else, the whole kingdom would rise, as one man, and drive this arrogant upstart from ...
— The Adventures of Hugh Trevor • Thomas Holcroft

... superhuman wisdom, and considering the best courtier to be the most favored subject, combines contradictory expedients, inconsistently mixing the assertion of free action with the enervating service of petition; while he admits, in the words of a learned archbishop, that "if the production of the things we ask for depend on antecedent, natural, and necessary causes, our desires will be answered no less by the omission than the offering of prayers, which, ...
— Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry • Albert Pike

... is hereby given, that in case the treaty entered into by that damned arch-traitor, John Jay, with the British tyrant should be ratified, a petition will be presented to the next general assembly of Virginia at their next session, praying that the said state may recede from the Union, and be under the government of one hundred ...
— Washington and the American Republic, Vol. 3. • Benson J. Lossing

... these I hoped to get an opportunity of returning into Europe: I therefore most humbly entreated his royal favour, to give order that I should be conducted in safety to Nangasac." To this I added another petition, "that for the sake of my patron the king of Luggnagg, his majesty would condescend to excuse my performing the ceremony imposed on my countrymen, of trampling upon the crucifix: because I had been thrown into his kingdom by my misfortunes, without any intention ...
— Gulliver's Travels - into several remote nations of the world • Jonathan Swift

... d'Aragona had spent in Gouache's studio the Countess Del Ferice entered her husband's study in order to consult him upon a rather delicate matter. He was alone, but busy as usual. His attention was divided between an important bank operation and a petition for his help in obtaining a decoration for the mayor of the town he represented. The claim to this distinction seemed to rest chiefly on the petitioner's unasked evidence in regard to his own moral rectitude, yet Del Ferice was really ...
— Don Orsino • F. Marion Crawford

... me," he went on, with a large hand on my shoulder, "the victum av a recent eviction—a penniless outcast. 'Tis no beggar's petition that I'll be profferin', however, but a bargun. Give me a salad, a pint av hock, an' fill me pipe wid the Only Mixture, an' I'll repay ye across the board wid a narrative—the sort av God-forsaken, ord'nary thrifle that ...
— The Delectable Duchy • Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch

... without merit his private inheritance. The adherents of the empress blushed to hold their lives and fortunes by the precarious favor of a usurper; and the thirst of revenge was concealed by a tender concern for the succession, and even the safety, of her son. They were justly alarmed by a petition of the friends of Cantacuzene, that they might be released from their oath of allegiance to the Palaeologi, and intrusted with the defence of some cautionary towns; a measure supported with argument and ...
— The History of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - Volume 6 • Edward Gibbon

... subject, that pressed so heavily on her mind, that Emily wished to speak to him, yet she did not distinctly know what good purpose this could answer, and sometimes she even recoiled in horror from the expectation of his presence. She wished, also, to petition, though she scarcely dared to believe the request would be granted, that he would permit her, since her aunt was no more, to return ...
— The Mysteries of Udolpho • Ann Radcliffe

... country. Petitions were addressed to me from all quarters, from every corporation and body of men in the whole empire. The majority of the people instructed their constituents, and the parliament presented a petition, praying that I would be pleased to take the state of the nation under consideration, and give orders to satisfy the people, or the most dreadful consequences were to be apprehended. To these requests, at the entreaty of my council, I ...
— The Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen • Rudolph Erich Raspe

... "Then give him," quoth the queen, "What is reason;" to which the lord consented, but was so busied, belike, about matters of higher concernment, that Spencer received no reward, whereupon he presented this petition in a small piece of paper to the queen in ...
— A Biography of Edmund Spenser • John W. Hales

... King. Petition me no petitions, sir, to-day: Let other hours be set apart for business. To-day it is our pleasure to be [1]drunk. And this our queen shall be as drunk ...
— Miscellanies, Volume 2 (from Works, Volume 12) • Henry Fielding

... great gold watch with cornelian seals. "Carter swears that Dr. Contesse hath a specific that is as sovereign for the gout as is St. Andrew's cross for a rattlesnake bite. I've had twinges lately, and the doctor lives hard by. Evelyn, will you rest here while I go petition AEsculapius? Haward, when I have the recipe I will return, and impart it to you against the time when you need it. No, no, child, stay where you are! I ...
— Audrey • Mary Johnston

... he had this advantage: The Lord is quicker at taking a point hinted at than the public is! Though this needs to be added: that if the Hearer of Prayer did catch the meaning that lay around loose somewhere in the jumble of the parson's petition, that morning, He did not see fit to grant the request, for no scrap of a rag that ever had graced the backs of those dear old hymn-makers fell, either soon or late, upon the form of the boy whose wriggling little body the mother tried to keep in ...
— The Evolution of Dodd • William Hawley Smith

... saw in his way only a four-legged creature of the brute world, which, in his arrogant brutalness he esteemed more brute than himself. All the pretty picture of the soft puppy, instinct with communicativeness, bursting with tenderness of petition, was veiled to his vision. What he saw was merely a four-legged animal to be thrust aside while he continued his lordly two-legged progress toward the bottle that could set maggots crawling in his brain and make him dream dreams that he was prince, ...
— Jerry of the Islands • Jack London

... sound was audible amid that ocean waste, but the light washing of the water, as the gentle waves rolled at intervals against the weather side of the wreck. It was now that Mulford found a moment for prayer, and seated on the keel, that he called on the Divine aid, in a fervent but silent petition to God, to put away this trial from the youthful and beautiful Rose, at least, though he himself perished. It was the first prayer that Mulford had made in many months, or since he had joined the Swash—a craft in which that duty was very ...
— Jack Tier or The Florida Reef • James Fenimore Cooper

... informed that his petition was granted, and he at once made arrangements for his residence ...
— From Canal Boy to President - Or The Boyhood and Manhood of James A. Garfield • Horatio Alger, Jr.

... secretly worked against them, and used his influence to have the British regiments sent to Boston, and thus initiated the war. After holding his high office for nearly ten years, he was recalled to England, in response to a petition from the House of Representatives that "he might be forever removed from the Government of the Province." As he departed from Boston the bells were rung, cannon fired from the wharves, and the Liberty Tree hung gaily with flags; so great was ...
— Annals and Reminiscences of Jamaica Plain • Harriet Manning Whitcomb

... score of years did a personal word pass between them. She had come to him for his signature to a petition for a pardon for a man whose family suffered while he was in the penitentiary. Hendricks signed the paper and handed it back to her, and his blue eyes were fixed impersonally upon her, and he smiled his ...
— A Certain Rich Man • William Allen White

... king!' she said. 'A petition for thy private ear alone!' And when her prayer had been granted, and she found herself alone with the king, she shook out her veil at his feet, and there fell from it in glittering coils the splendid necklace. As soon as the king saw it he was filled with amazement and delight, ...
— The Olive Fairy Book • Various

... the emotions she had never felt; and all that was left of joys and sorrows and spiritual aspirations which had once thrilled human hearts was in that plaintive echo they had given to this woman's tone, and the light of petition they had left burning ...
— Henry James, Jr. • William Dean Howells

... strange petition went up through the storm, a sleigh came along from the direction of the railway-station. It was nothing but a cart on runners, and painted a dingy, grayish blue; it was loaded with a dozen tin milk-cans much defaced by hard usage, each one stopped with an enormous cork. The driver ...
— Bressant • Julian Hawthorne

... St. Quentin, pulverised though I am by the weight of my own unworthiness, I protest that petition is not wholly foreign to the question you did me the honour to ask me ...
— The History of Sir Richard Calmady - A Romance • Lucas Malet

... he had been taught in his childhood did not seem to be appropriate to his present condition. Those prayers were associated with days and scenes of comparative innocence and happiness. He now felt guilty and wretched, and felt deeply that other forms of petition were necessary for him. But he could not frame words into a prayer that would soothe and relieve his soul. "God will not hear me," was his bitter thought. "I do not deserve to be heard. O! if God would have mercy upon me, and deliver me from this trouble, I think I would try to serve and obey ...
— The Runaway - The Adventures of Rodney Roverton • Unknown

... hidden in its gloom the petition for light, even thus in the depth of my unconsciousness rings the cry—'I ...
— Gitanjali • Rabindranath Tagore

... she sent a certain table written and sealed unto Caesar, and commanded them all to go out of the tombs where she was, but the two women; then she shut the doors to her. Caesar, when he received this table, and began to read her lamentation and petition, requesting him that he would let her be buried with Antonius, found straight what she meant, and thought to have gone thither himself: howbeit he sent one before in all haste that might be, to see what it was. Her death ...
— A Book of English Prose - Part II, Arranged for Secondary and High Schools • Percy Lubbock

... Sauteloup," had the task, in May, 1830, of reading to Theodore Calvi, who was condemned to death and a prisoner in the Conciegerie, the denial of his petition for appeal. [Scenes ...
— Repertory Of The Comedie Humaine, Complete, A — Z • Anatole Cerfberr and Jules Franois Christophe

... the apologies necessary to atone for my late negligence, you would justly say you had received a petition instead of a letter, as it would be filled with prayers for forgiveness; but instead of this, I will acknowledge my sins at once, and I trust to your friendship and generosity rather than to my own excuses. Though my health is not perfectly re-established, I am out of all danger, ...
— Life of Lord Byron, Vol. I. (of VI.) - With his Letters and Journals. • Thomas Moore

... of London to stand, after they have so repeatedly sought to obtain its destruction." In 1852 a proposal for its repair and restoration was defeated in the Common Council; and twelve months later, a number of bankers, merchants, and traders set their hands to a petition for its removal altogether, as serving no practical purpose, as it impeded ventilation and retarded improvements. Since then Mr. Heywood has proposed to make a circus at Temple Bar, leaving the archway in the centre; and Mr. ...
— Old and New London - Volume I • Walter Thornbury

... request, requisition; claim &c (demand) 741; petition, suit, prayer; begging letter, round robin. motion, overture, application, canvass, address, appeal, apostrophe; imprecation; rogation; proposal, proposition. orison &c (worship) 990; incantation &c (spell) 993. mendicancy; asking, begging &c v.; postulation, solicitation, invitation, entreaty, ...
— Roget's Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases: Body • Roget

... bard, "are these, who throng Around us: to petition thee they come. Go therefore on, and ...
— The Divine Comedy, Complete - The Vision of Paradise, Purgatory and Hell • Dante Alighieri

... The feasting continued late in the night, and so delighted were the "Sons of Liberty," that they erected a mast, inscribed "to his most gracious Majesty, George the Third, Mr. Pitt, and Liberty." A petition was also signed to erect a statue to Pitt, and the people seemed determined by this excess of loyalty to atone for their previous rebellious spirit. The joy, however, was of short duration—the news of the riots caused ...
— The Great Riots of New York 1712 to 1873 • J.T. Headley

... led Parliament to a bold assertion of its authority. It now presented to Charles the celebrated Petition of Right. One of the most important clauses provided that forced loans without parliamentary sanction should be considered illegal. Another clause declared that no one should be arrested or imprisoned except according to the ...
— EARLY EUROPEAN HISTORY • HUTTON WEBSTER

... sire! I can wait. But I implore you, while I go and practice patience, that your majesty will deign to notice those poor people who have for so long a time besieged your antechamber, and come humbly to lay a petition at ...
— The Vicomte de Bragelonne - Or Ten Years Later being the completion of "The Three - Musketeers" And "Twenty Years After" • Alexandre Dumas

... that they were old men,' said the Subadar-Major reflectively, 'very old men, worn out by lack of food and sleep, could not arrangements have been made, or influence have been secured, or a petition presented, whereby a well-born Sikh might have eased them of some portion of their great burden, even though ...
— A Diversity of Creatures • Rudyard Kipling

... knight, striving to speak in a firm tone, "in this expedition you are to consider yourselves the followers of my nephew; he is brave and honourable, therefore I commit you to his command. But as you go on his earnest petition, I am not answerable to any man for the enterprises to ...
— The Scottish Chiefs • Miss Jane Porter

... utterance, did his grandson lay hold of; but there were a few inhabitants of the place who could have interpreted it, and it was commonly believed that one part of his devotions was invariably a prolonged petition for vengeance on Campbell of Glenlyon, the main instrument in the ...
— Malcolm • George MacDonald

... of Napoleon, the great social gains of the Revolution were retained. There was no odious restoration of privilege and absolute monarchy. Frenchmen continued to be equal before the law; a form of constitutional government was provided; the right of petition was recognized; and the system of public instruction as Napoleon had organized it continued almost unchanged. For a decade at least there was less political reaction in France than in ...
— THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION • ELLWOOD P. CUBBERLEY

... in the services of the Eastern Church. There are few offices in which they are not found imbedded. Their catholicity is most remarkable. The suffrages are peculiar to no church service, but common to all liturgies. The people share in them by responding 'Lord have mercy' at the end of each petition, and 'Amen' ...
— Hymns of the Greek Church - Translated with Introduction and Notes • John Brownlie

... said, to intimacy and association with the great and good. The reason why Goldsmith's career at Dublin was not radiant was dogging poverty. In the midst of penury no sooner was money in his pockets than silver and copper sped in response to any petition made upon his unfailing if ...
— Oliver Goldsmith • E. S. Lang Buckland

... Lane made prison reform one of the foremost issues of his campaign. Several years later when a movement was started petitioning the Governor to parole Abraham Ruef, who had served a part of his term in the penitentiary for bribery in San Francisco, Lane signed the petition. This brought a letter of remonstrance from his friend Charles McClatchy, editor and owner of the Sacramento Bee, who felt that such a movement was ill-timed and not in the ...
— The Letters of Franklin K. Lane • Franklin K. Lane

... and Don Quixote and Don Alvaro dined together. The alcalde of the village came by chance into the inn together with a notary, and Don Quixote laid a petition before him, showing that it was requisite for his rights that Don Alvaro Tarfe, the gentleman there present, should make a declaration before him that he did not know Don Quixote of La Mancha, also there present, and that he was not the one that was ...
— Don Quixote • Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

... found that no language could be too strong to apply to the personnel of the Government, more especially its head. Of course, there was a lady in it; what plot would be complete without? She was Mrs. Weatherley, now, I believe, Mrs. Gunn of Gunn. These gentlemen began operations by drawing up a long petition to Sir Bartle Frere as High Commissioner, setting forth a string of supposed grievances, and winding up with a request that the Administrator might be "promoted to some other sphere of political usefulness." This memorial was forwarded by the "committee," as they called themselves, to various ...
— Cetywayo and his White Neighbours - Remarks on Recent Events in Zululand, Natal, and the Transvaal • H. Rider Haggard

... interrogate, interpellate, query, quiz, catechize, request, beg, solicit, entreat, beseech, crave, implore, supplicate, importune, petition.> ...
— The Century Vocabulary Builder • Creever & Bachelor

... humble petition, father, backed up by Joe Jollivet and by me, for him to be taken on again ...
— Sappers and Miners - The Flood beneath the Sea • George Manville Fenn

... little consideration will not supersede. No votaries of pleasure, ruined by extravagance and luxury, forfeit pity in censure by imploring your assistance; no slaves of idleness, no dupes of ambition, invite reproof for neglected concerns in soliciting your liberality. The objects of this petition are reduced, indeed, from affluence to penury, but the change has been wrought through the exaltation of their souls, not through the depravity of their conduct. Whatever may be their calls upon our tenderness, their claims, to every ...
— Brief Reflections relative to the Emigrant French Clergy (1793) • Frances Burney

... his father said. "After our unfortunate advance we fell back hither, and for six weeks nothing was done. A fortnight since, on the 2d of January, a petition was brought by deputies from the Common Council of London, asking the king to return to the capital when all disturbance should be suppressed. King Charles, however, knew not that these gentlemen had ...
— Friends, though divided - A Tale of the Civil War • G. A. Henty

... that "the third class were next examined on the nature and practice of prayer. They shewed great skill in comprehending and defining the several component parts of prayer, as invocation, adoration, confession, thanksgiving, petition, &c. They first gave examples of each separately; and then, with great facility, made selections from each division in its order, which they gave consecutively; shewing, that they had acquired, with ease and aptitude, by means of this classification, a most desirable scriptural ...
— A Practical Enquiry into the Philosophy of Education • James Gall

... general outcry. I could not prevent the merchants, all of whom were officers of the town militia, from meeting at the house of M. Daine, the mayor. There they declared for capitulating, and presented me a petition to that effect, signed by M. Daine and all ...
— Montcalm and Wolfe • Francis Parkman

... Fleming, Messrs. R. Wilson-Smith, G. E. Drummond, F. H. Mathewson, J. F. Ellis and W. F. Cockshutt were presented; a deputation of Indian chiefs from British Columbia was received by him on August 13th and submitted an address and a petition; a number of shire-horses were lent by His Majesty in the autumn for exhibition at Toronto and as a proof of his interest in that branch of Canadian development. But the chief event of the year in this respect was Canada's invitation to the King, and Queen Alexandra, ...
— The Life of King Edward VII - with a sketch of the career of King George V • J. Castell Hopkins

... Commandment in that while the latter enjoins the former only declares. The one therefore simply calls for assent, or, at most, assent coupled with petition, while the other peremptorily demands a cry for mercy. The immemorial form of the cry for mercy in the devotions of Christendom is the "Kyrie eleison," Lord, have mercy upon us; the immemorial form of assent the word ...
— A Short History of the Book of Common Prayer • William Reed Huntington

... once drew up a petition which my friend in the Senate circulated in the legislature for signatures, and afterwards sent it to Newark, securing some of the best names in that city. It was then returned to me, and two weeks afterwards when the Governor came again to the prison I ...
— Seven Wives and Seven Prisons • L.A. Abbott

... messengers from Murviedro reached the courts of the neighboring princes, and implored their help, not one would lend aid to the distressed city. Alfonso of Castile replied to their petition,— ...
— With Spurs of Gold - Heroes of Chivalry and their Deeds • Frances Nimmo Greene

... this occasion seem to have been unusual, and significant of the importance of the crisis. Parliament either was sitting at the time when the excommunication was issued, or else it was immediately assembled; and the House of Commons drew up, in the form of a petition to the king, a declaration of the circumstances which had occurred. After having stated generally the English law on the presentation to benefices, "Now of late," they added, "divers processes be made by his ...
— History of England from the Fall of Wolsey to the Death of Elizabeth. Vol. II. • James Anthony Froude

... kind, as the moon in the night. "A truce to your idle discourses!" I cry, "What's knowledge, indeed, unattended by might?" If you offered me, knowledge and wisdom and all, with my inkhorn and papers, in pawn for a mite, To buy one day's victual, the pledge they'd reject And cast, like an unread petition, from sight. Sorry, indeed, is the case of the poor, And his life, what a load of chagrin and despite! In summer, he's pinched for a living and cowers O'er the fire-pot in winter, for warmth and for light. The curs of the street dog ...
— The Book Of The Thousand Nights And One Night, Volume I • Anonymous

... we next find the party, seven in number, at Edessa, visiting the tomb of St. Thomas the Apostle. Here they were arrested as spies, and thrown into prison by the Saracens, but the king, on the petition of a Spaniard, set them at liberty. As soon as they were set free they left the town in great haste, and from that time their route is almost the same as that of the Bishop Arculphe; they visited Damascus, ...
— Celebrated Travels and Travellers - Part I. The Exploration of the World • Jules Verne

... tidings they brought.... You have told me that Lord Northbrook knows what has passed between us. I endeavoured and devised to see His Excellency, but I did not succeed, as he was very busy. I presented a petition to him that he should help to recover the property of which I was robbed unjustly, and which H.E. your brother ordered to be restored, and at the same time to right me for the oppression I had suffered. I have had no answer ...
— The Life of Gordon, Volume II • Demetrius Charles Boulger

... was not going to be answered, not intending, or wishing, really, that it should be answered? Had she prayed without any belief in a Being who had the power and probably the will to give her what she asked for? Would she have prayed at all had she been sure that if she offered up a petition to be made old in nature as well as in body it would certainly ...
— December Love • Robert Hichens

... having been referred to the Secretary of War, the report of that officer thereon is herewith inclosed. The papers therein referred to were all transmitted to the Senate with the treaty. Before that event, however, a petition and several other papers had been addressed directly to me, in behalf of certain Indians originally and in part still residing within the State of New York, objecting to the ratification of the treaty, as affecting injuriously their rights and interests. The treaty ...
— A Compilation of Messages and Letters of the Presidents - 2nd section (of 3) of Volume 2: John Quincy Adams • Editor: James D. Richardson

... and dwelt particularly on the promising appearance of things; and, with much humility, pleaded God's promises for the enlargement of Zion; with many petitions for Mr. Brown and his family. The service was concluded by Mr. Carey, who was earnest in prayer for Mr. Brown: the petition that 'having laboured for many years without encouragement or support, in the evening it might be light,' seemed much to affect his own mind, and greatly impressed us all. Afterwards we supped ...
— The Life of William Carey • George Smith



Words linked to "Petition" :   appeal, requiescat, grace, blessing, asking, solicitation, collect, orison, ingathering, intercession, benediction, call for, petitionary, postulation, deprecation, subject matter, thanksgiving, prayer wheel, supplicate, substance, collection, bespeak, request, invocation, content, supplication, petitioner, commination, quest



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