1629 J. Mabbe tr. C. de Fonseca Deuout Contempl. xxiii. 402 That God will haue vs to exercise our selues in the petitioning of our desires.

1632 J. Mabbe tr. J. de Santa Maria Policie Unveiled xxv. 227 There is not any thing that costes a man dearer, then that which is bought by intreaties, and petitionings.

1649 J. Lilburne Hunting of Foxes 3 And if of our own, then not to destroy our right of Petitioning, for that is in the number of our own, and so formerly owned by themselves.

a1689 J. Reresby Mem. (1991) 202 Thos gentlemen of Yorkshire..declared their abhorrance to the..petitioning for the Parliament's sitting.

1722 E. Thomas Misc. Poems 24 'Tis bold Petitioning, and I must own We merit not those Favours you have shown.

1746 Faithful Narr. Counselloer Morgan's Ghost 5 Your Reasonings against Jobb Bills, your Petitionings, your Law-suits against Vestries [etc.].

1792 T. Paine Rights of Man: Pt. Second iv. 53 The only right it acknowledges out of itself, is the right of petitioning.

1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. v. 658 James..had treated modest petitioning as a crime.

1853 C. Dickens in Househ. Words Extra Christmas No., Dec. 35/2 There arose among the Bigwigs..such pulpiting and petitioning, such maundering and memorialising, such name-calling and dirt-throwing.

1966 Speculum 41 218 Pecham tempered his threats with judicious petitionings.

1991 D. Turley Culture Eng. Antislavery (BNC) 64 Though antislavery petitioning was a prominent element of parliamentary petitioning in the years mentioned above, they were years in which petitioning as a habit grew remarkably.

1615 R. Brathwait Strappado 111 This priuiledge and Knightly honour; Which hauing got by long petitioning suite.

1649 J. Milton Εικονοκλαστης iv. 31 Unarmed and Petitioning People.

1709 J. Toland Refl. Sacheverell's Serm. 9 The golden Candlesticks, as the seven petitioning Bishops were then call'd.

1722 D. Defoe Moll Flanders 7 This I said, in such a poor petitioning Tone, that it made the poor Womans Heart yearn to me.

1849 E. B. Eastwick Dry Leaves 4 A pony standing on his hind legs like a petitioning poodle.

a1854 E. Grant Mem. Highland Lady (1988) I. i. 11 He..would refuse our petitioning faces with..an air of truthful regret.

1950 E. C. Brown & H. A. Millis Stud. National Labor Policy & Labor Relations (1965) 91 Of these elections, 139, or 59 per cent, were won by the petitioning union.

2002 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 30 July e1/2 First the immigration service approves or denies requests for visas filed by petitioning groups in the United States.

1720 Exact Abridgem. All Statutes V. 66 No Commission of Bankrupt shall issue..on the Petition..unless the single Debt of the petitioning Creditor amount to 100l. or upwards.

?1825 T. Heaford (title) The petitioning creditor's guide. Form of a messenger's bill for a bankrupt's certificate.

1977 J. Burke Jowitt's Dict. Eng. Law (ed. 2) II. 1359/2 Petitioning creditor, one who applies for a receiving order in bankruptcy against his debtor. The Bankruptcy Act, 1914, s. 3, provides that the creditor's debt must be a liquidated one for £50 at least, and grounded upon an act of bankruptcy having occurred within three months of the presentation of the petition.

1994 Laws of N.Z. at Insolvency When a petitioning creditor accepts money tendered for a judgement debt but not including the costs of the petition, the petition will not absolutely lapse.