This word has the same signification as perk, but is much more frequently employed. It is either an altered form of the word perk, or a corrupt pronunciation of pert. The phrase, 'as peert as a lizard,' is sometimes heard. It is used in a good as well as a bad sense, and especially of one who is recovering, or 'looking up,' after a fit of sickness.
I gave her the best bend I had in me, and raised my bran-new hat as peert and perlite as a minister.--Robb, Squatter Life.
Speaking of the recovery of his wife from sickness, Major Jones says:
Mary's rite piert, and her child is making a monstrous good beginnin' in the world.--Courtship, p. 200.
That fellow must think we were all raised in a saw mill, he looks so peert whenever he comes in.--Hoffman, Winter in the West.
Well, I starts off pretty considerable peert and brisk, considering I was weak.--Carlton, The New Purchase, Vol. I. p. 178.