perk
1 Americanverb (used without object)
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to become lively, cheerful, or vigorous, as after depression or sickness (usually followed byup ).
The patients all perked up when we played the piano for them.
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to act, or carry oneself, in a jaunty manner.
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to put oneself forward briskly or presumptuously.
verb (used with object)
-
to make smart, trim, or jaunty (sometimes followed by up orout ).
to perk up a suit with a new white blouse.
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to raise smartly or briskly (often followed by up orout ).
to perk one's head up.
adjective
verb (used with or without object)
noun
-
perks
plural
adjective
verb
verb
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(intr) (of coffee) to percolate
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(tr) to percolate (coffee)
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of perk1
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English perken “(of a bird) to perch on a tree”; akin to perch 1
Origin of perk2
An Americanism dating back to 1920–25; by shortening and respelling
Origin of perk3
First recorded in 1865–70; by shortening and respelling
Explanation
A perk is something extra you get, in addition to a salary, in exchange for working. The major perk of your job at an ice cream shop might be all the hot fudge sundaes you can eat. Some fairly common job perks include health insurance, free gym memberships, and company cars. You can also talk about the perks, or benefits, of a situation: "I have to ride to school with my annoying neighbor, but the perk is she always brings donuts." As a verb, perk means "to become more energetic or cheerful." So that donut perk? It might be just the thing to perk you up on a Monday morning.
Vocabulary lists containing perk
"Where I'm From"
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Selection Vocabulary 3, Unit 5
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poems about voices of modern culture
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The thud of a hammering Hulksmash rattles our seats; later, a cocked rifle is so crisp we perk up like a dog hearing the mailman.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 30, 2026
Reporters programmatically extracted compensation tables, footnotes and other explanations of perquisites mentioned in the filings and fed the results to an LLM which parsed the amount, type and beneficiary of each perk.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 25, 2026
“When a cluster is big enough everybody’s ears perk up, communication starts,” and multiple avenues of investigation begin, Stevens said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026
Robinhood also switched away from its Oura ring perk, which offered a free membership—but not the cost for the required wearable health tracker.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026
You could see Mrs. Wheeler really perk up her ears at that, so Trotter meowed again.
From "Doing Time Online" by Jan Siebold
I was leaning toward a Hyatt Place near Heathrow to earn points and loyalty perks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
Under the Clarity Act as we and others read it, stablecoin holders could be compensated with sundry perks including zero-interest loans as long as their deposits aren’t the only reason they are being rewarded.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
“It feels like the benefits and the perks that we have enjoyed for a long time keep vanishing,” said Todd Stubbler, a 61-year-old pageant helper who has worked at Disneyland for close to 35 years.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2026
While no-frills fares expand to business and first class, airlines are quietly rewriting the rules in standard economy—most notably around cancellation policies, miles and loyalty perks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026
Zayd perks up, and we pull a few old chairs around the sofa.
From "Zara’s Rules for Record-Breaking Fun" by Hena Khan
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
