petition

柯林斯词典

1. N-COUNT A petition is a document signed by a lot of people that asks a government or other official group to do a particular thing. 请愿书
People feel so strongly that we recently presented the government with a petition signed by 4,500 people. 人们感受如此强烈，以至我们最近向政府提交了一份由4500人签名的请愿书。
2. N-COUNT A petition is a formal request made to a court of law for some legal action to be taken. 诉状; (向法院提出的) 申请[法律]
His lawyers filed a petition for all charges to be dropped. 他的律师们提出申请要求撤销所有指控。
3. V-T/V-I If you petition someone in authority, you make a formal request to them. 正式请求[法律]
...couples petitioning for divorce. …申请离婚的几对夫妇。
All the attempts to petition Congress had failed. 所有向国会提出请求的努力都已失败了。