1. A formal message requesting something that is submitted to an authority or a written request signed by many people demanding a specific action from an authority or government.
2. A reverent petition to a deity or an appeal or request to a higher authority or Being.
3. A request formally made in writing including something requested or appealed for.
4. Etymology: "a supplication" or "prayer"; especially, to a deity"; from Old French peticiun which came from Latin petitionem, petitio, "a request, a solicitation"; from petere, "to require, to seek, to go forward".

The Latin word petere "to seek", from which petition is derived, is also the source of the English words which appear in this unit.

1. To give or address a petition to someone; especially, a person in authority or a representative of an organization.
2. To urge for or against a course of action by presenting a formal request.