Perk

//pɝk// adj, noun, verb, slang

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Smart; trim; spruce; jaunty; vain. obsolete

    "My ragged rontes all shiver and shake, As doen high Towers in an earthquake: They wont in the wind wagge their wrigle tailes, Perke as Peacock: but nowe it auales."

Noun
  1. 1
    Perquisite. informal

    "Free coffee is one of the perks of the job."

  2. 2
    A percolator, particularly of coffee.
  3. 3
    an incidental benefit awarded for certain types of employment (especially if it is regarded as a right) wordnet
  4. 4
    A bonus ability that a player character can acquire; a permanent power-up.
Verb
  1. 1
    To make (coffee) in a percolator or a drip coffeemaker. informal, transitive

    "I’ll perk some coffee."

  2. 2
    To make trim or smart; to straighten up; to erect; to make a jaunty or saucy display of. transitive

    "[the squirrel] whisks his brush And perks his ears, and stamps and scolds aloud"

  3. 3
    To peer; to look narrowly, sharply, or inquisitively. dated

    "He is a tall, thin, bony man, with an interrogative nose, and little restless perking eyes, which appear to have been given him for the sole purpose of peeping into other people’s affairs with."

  4. 4
    To perch. obsolete

    "His seconde hawke wexyd gery And was with flyenge wery. She had flowyn so oft, That on the rode loft She perkyd her to rest."

  5. 5
    gain or regain energy wordnet
Show 4 more definitions
  1. 6
    Of coffee: to be produced by heated water seeping (“percolating”) through coffee grounds. informal, intransitive

    "The coffee is perking."

  2. 7
    To appear from below or behind something, emerge, pop up, poke out. intransitive

    "The heads of plants above the crack’d ground perk:"

  3. 8
    To examine thoroughly. dialectal
  4. 9
    To exalt oneself; to bear oneself loftily. intransitive, obsolete

    "1574, Arthur Golding (translator), Sermons of Master John Calvin, upon the Booke of Job, London: Lucas Harison and George Byshop, Sermon 38, The first upon the tenth Chapter, For whereof commeth thys hypocrisie in the popedome, that men shall preache free will, merits, and satisfactions, and set vp their bristles in suche wise, and beare themselues in hande that they may come perking before God, yea and preace thither lyke shamelesse strumpets."

Etymology

Etymology 1

Clipping of perquisite.

Etymology 2

Clipping of percolate (verb) and percolator (noun).

Etymology 3

Clipping of percolate (verb) and percolator (noun).

Etymology 4

Origin uncertain. Perhaps a metathesis of prick.

Etymology 5

Origin uncertain. Perhaps a metathesis of prick.

Etymology 6

The origin is uncertain. Perhaps a variant of peer + -k (frequentative ending).

Etymology 7

From Middle English perken, from Old Northern French perquer.

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