Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To stick up or jut out.
  • intransitive verb To carry oneself in a lively and jaunty manner.
  • intransitive verb To cause to stick up quickly.
  • adjective Perky.
  • intransitive verb To percolate.
  • noun A perquisite.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A horizontal pole or bar serving as a support for various purposes, as a perch for birds or as the ridge-pole of a tent, or used for the hanging of yarns, skins, etc., to dry, or against which sawn timber may be stacked while seasoning, etc.
  • An obsolete form of perch.
  • noun An obsolete or dialectal (Scotch) form of park.
  • To peer; look narrowly or sharply.
  • To examine thoroughly.
  • To toss or jerk the head with affected smartness; be jaunty or pert: sometimes with an impersonal it.
  • To hold up smartly; prick up.
  • To dress; make spruce or smart; smarten; prank.
  • Neat; trim; smart; hence, pert; airy; jaunty; proud.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To make trim or smart; to straighten up; to erect; to make a jaunty or saucy display of
  • intransitive verb To exalt one's self; to bear one's self loftily.
  • intransitive verb to carry one's self proudly or saucily.
  • adjective Smart; trim; spruce; jaunty; vain.
  • intransitive verb To peer; to look inquisitively.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Perquisite.
  • verb To become more lively or enthusiastic.
  • verb dated To peer; to look inquisitively.
  • verb Shortened form of percolate.
  • noun A percolator, particularly of coffee.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun an incidental benefit awarded for certain types of employment (especially if it is regarded as a right)
  • verb gain or regain energy

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Possibly Middle English perken, to perch, from perk, rod, perch, probably from Medieval Latin perca and from Old French perche, perce, both from Latin pertica, rod; see perch.]

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Shortening and alteration of perquisite.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From perquisite, by abbreviation.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

The origin is uncertain.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

The origin is uncertain.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From percolate (verb) and percolator (noun), by abbreviation.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word perk.

Examples

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.