perk
/pɜːk/US/pɝk/
perk noun: perquisite.
Noun (1)
perk (plural perks)
- Perquisite.
- Free coffee is one of the perks of the job.
- A bonus ability that a player character can acquire; a permanent power-up.
Verb (1)
perk (third-person singular simple present perks, present participle perking, simple past and past participle perked)
- To make (coffee) in a percolator or a drip coffeemaker.
- I’ll perk some coffee.
- Of coffee: to be produced by heated water seeping (“percolating”) through coffee grounds.
- The coffee is perking.
- While the coffee perked, she flipped idly through a gardening magazine and scanned an article on the war against aphids.1996, Sherry Lewis, This Montana Home, Harlequin Books, page 288
Noun (2)
perk (plural perks)
- A percolator, particularly of coffee.
Verb (2)
perk (third-person singular simple present perks, present participle perking, simple past and past participle perked)
- To make trim or smart; to straighten up; to erect; to make a jaunty or saucy display of.
- [the squirrel] whisks his brush
And perks his ears, and stamps and scolds aloud1785, William Cowper, The Task, London: J. Johnson, Book 6, p. 247 - The blue jay was having a fit, and the sapsucker perked his bright-eyed little head at him not more than a dozen feet away.1924, James Oliver Curwood, chapter 4, in A Gentleman of Courage, Toronto: Copp Clark
- [the squirrel] whisks his brush
- To appear from below or behind something, emerge, pop up, poke out.
- The heads of plants above the crack’d ground perk:1640, John Gower, transl., Ovid’s Festivalls, Cambridge, Book 4, April, p. 77
- A white Paris net sort of cap, glittering with spangles, and incircled by a chaplet of artificial flowers, with a little white feather perking from the left ear, is to be my head-dress.1753, Samuel Richardson, The History of Sir Charles Grandison, London, Volume 1, Letter 22, p. 159
- To exalt oneself; to bear oneself loftily.
- 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.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
- […] our Lord had never any such design, to set up a sort of men in such distance above their brethren; to perk over them, and suck them of their goods by tricks […]1683, Isaac Barrow, A Treatise of the Pope’s Supremacy, London: Brabazon Aylmer, Supposition 5, page 140
Adjective
perk (comparative more perk, superlative most perk)
- Smart; trim; spruce; jaunty; vain.
- 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.1579, Edmund Spenser, “Februarie”, in The Shepheardes Calender, London: Hugh Singleton - All, joy’d at th’ omen, their foundation laid:
And in short time a perk new wall is made.1640, John Gower, transl., Ovid’s Festivalls, Cambridge, Book 4, April, p. 96
- My ragged rontes all shiver and shake,
Verb (3)
perk (third-person singular simple present perks, present participle perking, simple past and past participle perked)
- To peer; to look narrowly, sharply, or inquisitively.
- 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.1835, Charles Dickens, “The Election for Beadle”, in Sketches by Boz, 3rd edition, volume 1, London: John Macrone, published 1837, page 32
- To examine thoroughly.
Verb (4)
perk (third-person singular simple present perks, present participle perking, simple past and past participle perked)
- To perch.
- 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.c. 1503–1512, John Skelton, Ware the Hauke; republished in John Scattergood, editor, John Skelton: The Complete English Poems, 1983, →OCLC, page 63, lines 66–70 - Then sir, let me say, that Mineruas owle was proude, for perking vnder [h]ir golden target […]1591, Robert Greene, Greenes Farewell to Folly, London: T. Gubbin & T. Newman
- His seconde hawke wexyd gery
perk meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam
perk in Tamil
- இதர பயன், மேலதிக வருமானம், சலுகை, சோர்வு நீங்கி உற்சாகம் பெறு, சுறுசுறுப்பாக முன்வா, மேலெழு
perk in Urdu
- خودپسند, پرجوش, اینٹھنا, اکڑنا, سر بلند کرنا
perk in Bengali
- প্রস্ফুটিত, সজীব হওয়া, পার্ক
perk in Malayalam
- perk up brighten up, cheer up, liven up
- ഉന്മേഷിപ്പിക്കുക, പ്രോത്സാഹിപ്പക്കുക, ധെെര്യപ്പെടുത്തുക, ഉത്സാഹമുണ്ടാക്കുക, ആഹ്ലാദിപ്പിക്കുക, പ്രസന്നതയുണ്ടാക്കുക
- rally, recover, improve
- ആരോഗ്യം വീണ്ടെടുക്കുക, ഉന്മേഷം വീണ്ടെടുക്കുക, സുഖം പ്രാപിക്കുക, ധെെര്യം വീണ്ടെടുക്കുക, ആത്മവിശ്വാസം വീണ്ടെടുക്കുക, ധെെര്യവും ശക്തിയും വീണ്ടെടുക്കുക
Examples of perk in a sentence
- His ears perked up when he heard there would be ice cream.
- It's an old-fashioned company, with parking spaces and other perks doled out on the basis of seniority.
- His leporine ears perked up at the mention of dessert.
Forms of perk
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | perks |
| alternative form | perq |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | perks |
| present participle | perking |
| past participle | perked |
| past | perked |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | more perk |
Origin of perk
Clipping of perquisite.
Clipping of percolate (verb) and percolator (noun).
Origin uncertain. Perhaps a metathesis of prick.
Words formed from perk
Phrases with perk
Words that rhyme with perk
Questions about perk
- What does perk mean?
- Perk means perquisite.
- What is perk in Tamil?
- Perk in Tamil is இதர பயன், மேலதிக வருமானம், சலுகை. See Perk meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is perk?
- Perk can be a noun, a verb or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce perk?
- Perk is pronounced /pɝk/ (US).
- What is the plural of perk?
- The plural of perk is perks.
Words near perk in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: perk (page history and authors); perk (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); perk (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); perk (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); perk (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-perk.wav.
Cite this entry: “perk.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/perk. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.