perken

present singular third person perkens · participle present perkening · participle past perkened · past perkened

1. ambitransitivenonstandardTo make or become perked or perky.

   She saw him and kind of perkened up [perked up] her gait a little bit.

   2009, Mariella Glenn Hartsfield, Tall Betsy and Dunce Baby, page 72

   2 more examples

   Us perkened so, staring at each other, not rightly knowing one the other—such a goodly percentage of familiar skin now been quenched back of hiding cloth.

   2001, Allan Gurganus, Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All, page 599

   But Lawrence,” he adds, perkening, “I hope you were planning to take my Elizabethan poets course next year?”

   2011, Lynn Coady, Mean Boy

   Synonyms: perk