Having great power of leaping or running; nimble; active; vigorous.--Webster.
This word is much used in familiar language in New England. It is not in the English dictionaries, but Jennings notices it among the provincialisms of Somersetshire.
In a Fable by R. W. Emerson, "The Mountain and the Squirrel," Squirrel says:
If I'm not so large as you,
You are not so small as I,
And not half so spry.
She is as spry as a cricket.--Margaret, p. 58.
"How are you, Jeremiah?" "Why, I'm kinder sorter midlin', Mr. Slick, what you call considerable nimble and spry."--Sam Slick.