Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective High-spirited, lively, or cheerful.
- adjective Impudently bold; saucy.
- adjective Attractive or stylish in appearance.
- adjective Small or firm and well-formed.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To perk.
- To be pert or saucy; behave with pertness.
- Open; clear, as a way or passage.
- Plain; clear; evident; obvious; not concealed.
- Comely; beautiful; of good appearance; trim; neat.
- Lively; brisk; clever; smart.
- Forward; saucy; impudent; indecorously loquacious or free.
- Synonyms See
impudence . - noun A pert or impudent person of either sex.
- Openly.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- intransitive verb obsolete To behave with pertness.
- adjective obsolete Open; evident; apert.
- adjective obsolete Lively; brisk; sprightly; smart.
- adjective Indecorously free, or presuming; saucy; bold; impertinent.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb intransitive, obsolete To behave with
pertness .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective characterized by a lightly pert and exuberant quality
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The worst pert is that his colleagues, friends and even his family have no idea who he is.
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“I guess we called her pert,” she said, with a smile moving her thick features.
Dicey's Song Cynthia Voigt 1982
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“I guess we called her pert,” she said, with a smile moving her thick features.
Dicey's Song Cynthia Voigt 1982
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“I guess we called her pert,” she said, with a smile moving her thick features.
Dicey's Song Cynthia Voigt 1982
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Porter -- who Time described as a pert, brown-eyed, dark haired, nail-biting, chain-smoking, go-getter -- helped enfranchise American women to the investment world, teaching them core concepts and strategies so they need not ask for a man's help to take the reins of what Porter termed "pocketbook issues."
Pamela Yellen: When "Women and Financial Literacy" Was Still an Oxymoron, Sylvia Porter Came to the Rescue Pamela Yellen 2011
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In its notice of the play in August 1823, the Mirror of the Stage; or, New Dramatic Censor found Mrs. Weippert (whose initial it gives as "I.") of particular interest: "as a singer, this lady's merits are not above mediocrity; but whenever she is put into characters suited to her talents, such as pert servants, or romping hoyden's [sic], she displays considerable vivacity and spirit."
Cast and Characters 2008
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Spark has never been an abundant imaginer; her deliberate deprivations and omissions have always represented a kind of pert challenge to the reader, as if she were saying, "This is all I will give you; make of these rations what you can."
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Spark has never been an abundant imaginer; her deliberate deprivations and omissions have always represented a kind of pert challenge to the reader, as if she were saying, "This is all I will give you; make of these rations what you can."
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They would become "pert," as pages were supposed to be, and diffident as esquires, but as knights they would come back of themselves to the perfect ways of their childhood with a grace that became well the strength and self-possession of their knighthood.
The Education of Catholic Girls Janet Erskine Stuart
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We'll need somebody to heave a bucket of water on Issy pretty soon; he's gettin 'kind of pert and uppish again.
The Portygee Joseph Crosby Lincoln 1907
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