From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishperkyperk‧y /ˈpɜːki $ ˈpɜːrki/ adjective informal CONFIDENTconfident, happy, and active a perky salesgirl —perkily adverb —perkiness noun [uncountable]
Examples from the Corpus
perky• Then, once we got to McDougal Road, he was perky and wanted to talk.• Nothing in the script, or Auteuil's perky, craggy face can really tell us.• Steinhardt strayed from pitch in the perky finale of K. 160; cellist David Soyer nibbled at notes.• He gave the impression of a perky little high school speaking champ who had just won his first debate.• What happens is big, manly chords nuzzled up to perky little hooks that can start the most disaffected wall-huggers dancing.• He sounded like a perky little old man.• He couldn't stand Margaret when she was in one of her perky moods.• Ashworth is certainly out-going and in-thinking, a perky televisual subject.• You're awfully perky this morning, Debbie.Origin perky (1800-1900) perk “to behave confidently and cheerfully”; → PERK1 