pert

comparative perter · superlative pertest

1. Attractive.
2. Well-formed; shapely.First known use 14th c.

   pert breasts

3. Lively; alert and cheerful; bright.First known use 16th c.

   He was instantly attracted to Gladys's pert, fey humor and her good nature.

   2001, Donald Spoto, chapter 1, in Marilyn Monroe: The Biography, page 11

   1 more example

   Goe Philoſtrate, / Stirre vp the Athenian youth to merriments, / Awake the peart and nimble ſpirit of mirth, / Turne melancholy foorth to funerals: […]

   c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, A Midsommer Nights Dreame. […] (First Quarto), London: […] [Richard Bradock] for Thomas Fisher, […], published 1600, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]

4. archaicEspecially of children or social inferiors: cheeky, impertinent.First known use 15th c.

   "You'll not be so pert when the Cornish seize you. They spit children like you and roast them on bonfires."

   2009, Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall, Fourth Estate, published 2010, page 333

   4 more examples

   Says Mrs. Jervis, Pamela, don’t be pert to his Honour? You ſhould know your Diſtance; you ſee his Honour was only in Jeſt.

   1741, [Samuel Richardson], “Letter XVI”, in Pamela: Or, Virtue Rewarded. […], 3rd edition, volume I, London: […] C[harles] Rivington, […]; and J. Osborn, […], →OCLC, page 37

   [T]he Major began to think that Pen was growing exceedingly pert and conceited, and that the world made a great deal too much of him.

   1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC

   […]so that I couldn't help telling her, sir, that in our country, leastways in Virginia (they say the Yankees are very pert), young people don't speak of their elders so.

   1857–1859, W[illiam] M[akepeace] Thackeray, chapter XXXIV, in The Virginians. A Tale of the Last Century, volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury & Evans, […], published 1858–1859, →OCLC

   “Then you didn't find her so amusing as Tom does?” “I found her pert. There's no other word for it. She says things to puzzle you and put you out.”

   1885, William Dean Howells, chapter XII, in The Rise of Silas Lapham

   Synonyms: audacious, bold, get wise, bold-faced, bold as brass, brassy, malapert, brazen

5. obsoleteOpen; evident; unhidden.First known use 14th–17th c.

   Some parled as perte · as prouyd well after, / And clappid more ffor þe coyne · þat þe kyng oweth hem / Thanne ffor comfforte of þe comyne […]

   Some talked as openly, as proud well after, / And clapped more for the coin that the king owes them / Than for comfort of the common […]

   [15th century, “[Richard the Redeles.] Passus Quartus.”, in Walter W[illiam] Skeat, editor, The Vision of William Concerning Piers the Plowman, Dowel, Dobet, and Dobest, […]. Richard the Redeles, […] The Crowned King, […] (Early English Text Society, Part III; 54) (in Middle English), London: […] [F]or the Early English Text Society by N[icholas] Trübner & Co., […], published 1873, →OCLC, page 503, lines 88–90

6. obsoleteClever.

present singular third person perts · participle present perting · participle past perted · past perted

1. intransitiveobsoleteTo behave with pertness; to misbehave.

plural perts

1. obsoleteAn impudent person.

1. abbreviationacronymuncountableoperationsAcronym of program evaluation and review technique.