perk

perk¹ to raise briskly, perk up

Etymology

The verb meaning to raise oneself briskly is of uncertain origin.^[2][3] Most dictionaries take it as inherited from Middle English perken (“to perch”),^[4][2][5] perhaps borrowed from Old Northern French perquer (“to perch”),^[5][2][6] a variant of percher (modern percher), from perque (“a perch”),^[6][2][7] which goes back to Latin pertica (“pole, rod”).^[6][2][8] The OED treats the earliest sense as a variant of perch the verb, comparing Norman perquer in Normandy, but takes the senses "to behave proudly" and "to stick up" as a separate verb of uncertain origin, perhaps a development of it.^[3] Middle English also had a noun perk, a pole, rod or perch for a bird, recorded from 1396, a variant of the noun perch;^[3][5] Hoad and Skeat think the verb may come from that noun.^[7][9] Weekley noted that some early examples suggest instead a metathesis of prick,^[10] and Skeat thought it was perhaps associated with pert.^[9] The adjective perk, brisk or saucy (1579, in Spenser), is of unknown origin in the OED, and probably from the verb in Merriam-Webster.^[3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of birds, to perch, or to preen themselves on a perch: about 1390, in the alliterative poem Pistel of Swete Susan, where the popinjays perken and pruynen for proude on pear trees.^[3][4][5] Etymonline glosses the verb there as "to make oneself trim or smart", and Barnhart dates the sense of making trim, as a bird trims its plumage, to about 1485.^[5][2]

Semantic evolution

Weekley suggested that the sense grew from the posture of a parrot on its perch,^[10] and Etymonline from the notion of a bird preening its plumage.^[5] From the 16th century the verb was used of people behaving proudly or impudently (1529, in Latimer), of things sticking up or out (1583), and of lifting the head or rising briskly (before 1591).^[3][2] Johnson (1755) defined it as "to dress; to prank", quoting Shakespeare's Henry VIII,^[11] and the OED has a sense "to make smart, deck out" from 1590 to 1868.^[3] The phrase perk up, to recover health, spirits or liveliness, is recorded from 1658 and is now colloquial; the transitive sense, to enliven or cheer, followed in 1661.^[3][5][2] The adjective perky is from the 19th century, first in Tennyson's poetry in 1855 in Barnhart.^[2][7] The perching sense survives in northern and East Anglian dialect,^[3] and the English Dialect Dictionary records perk in many forms from Scotland to Somerset.^[12]

Timeline

• c. 1390 – of a bird, to perch, or to preen on a perch.^[3][4]
• 1396 – noun, a pole, rod or perch (the rod sense obsolete by 1613).^[3]
• c. 1485 – to make trim or smart.^[2]
• 1529 – to behave proudly or impudently.^[3]
• 1579 – adjective, brisk, saucy, self-assured, in Spenser's Shepheardes Calender.^[3]
• 1583 – of a thing, to stick up or out.^[3]
• before 1591 – to lift the head or rise briskly; to raise or prick up.^[3][2]
• 1658 – perk up, to recover liveliness or health.^[3]
• 1661 – perk up, transitive, to enliven, cheer.^[3]
• 1940 – to say something in a lively or optimistic way.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. perk up: to become more cheerful, lively or interested, or to make someone so: A cup of tea perked her up.^[13][3][6]
2. To lift or stick up briskly, as a dog's ears do; often with up: The puppy's ears perked up at the sound.^[13][6][3]
3. To carry oneself, or thrust the head forward, in a bold or jaunty way.^[6][3]
4. perk up: to make something smarter or more attractive.^[13][3]
5. (dialect) Of a bird, to perch.^[3][14]

Adjective

1. Lively and self-assured; pert or brisk.^{[13][6][14][11]}

Word family

• perky
• perkish
• perkingly

perk² perquisite

Etymology

The noun meaning a perquisite is a colloquial shortening of perquisite,^{[3][5][2][6][15]} whose spelling was changed to match the sound.^[2][6] It is also spelled “perq”.^[5][15] Perquisite is from Medieval Latin perquisitum (“a thing acquired, profit”), a noun use of the past participle of perquīrō (“to seek, ask for”).^[5][3] The OED compares an earlier Scots pirkuz, recorded in 1824, perhaps understood as “perquis o't”.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A small benefit or privilege that goes with a job or position: 1869, in James Greenwood's Seven Curses of London.^[3][2][5] Merriam-Webster dates the word to 1824, the year of the Scots pirkuz.^[6][3]

Semantic evolution

The word was colloquial and chiefly British at first, and it is usually used in the plural.^[6][14] Green's Dictionary of Slang quotes Greenwood again in 1874, explaining perks as a handy abbreviation of perquisites, and has Australian use from 1881.^[15] The general sense of the full word, an incidental profit on top of regular wages, goes back to the 1560s.^[5]

Timeline

• 1824 – Scots pirkuz, any kind of perquisite.^[3][6]
• 1869 – a perquisite or fringe benefit.^[3][2][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A benefit or privilege that comes with a job or position besides the pay, such as a company car; a perquisite or fringe benefit: Free travel is one of the perks of the job.^[13][6][3]
2. Any extra advantage that goes with something.^[3][13]

perk³ to percolate coffee

Etymology

The verb meaning to percolate coffee is a shortening of percolate,^[3][5][2][6] with the spelling changed to match the sound,^[2][6] and is also spelled “perc”.^[5][14] Percolate is from Latin percōlō (“to strain through”).^[5][16]

Earliest recorded meaning

To make coffee in a percolator: 1920, in an advertisement in the Daily Northwestern of Oshkosh, Wisconsin.^[3] Merriam-Webster dates the word to 1922,^[6] and Barnhart and Etymonline to 1934, as American English.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

From 1922 the verb was also used intransitively, of a percolator or of coffee bubbling in it;^[3][14] from 1949 it was also used figuratively, of a person or thing becoming active or lively, a sense the OED compares with perk "to have a lively manner".^[3] A noun perk or perc, a coffee percolator or coffee made in one, appeared in the mid 20th century.^[14]

Timeline

• 1920 – to make coffee in a percolator.^[3]
• 1922 – of a percolator or coffee, to bubble, boil.^[3][6]
• 1949 – figuratively, to be or become active.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To make coffee in a percolator: She perked a fresh pot.^[3][14]
2. Of coffee or a percolator, to bubble or percolate: Coffee was perking on the stove.^[3][6][14]
3. To be lively or active.^[3]