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Definition
attractively small & well-shaped- He has nothing in the world that I know of but a dozen or two of early masters and a more or less pert little daughter.Henry James -- The Portrait of a Lady - Volume 1
- Link Stevens appeared suddenly to grow lax, shriveled, to lose all his peculiar pert brightness, to weaken and age.Zane Grey -- The Light of Western Stars
- "Yes, she did," said another Squirrel, even perter.C.S. Lewis -- The Silver Chair
- With sunlight not on my helmet I could see stars, but inner pert of binox were hard to position—had to twist around and raise up on right elbow.Robert A. Heinlein -- The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
- [Smiling at her pertness.Oscar Wilde -- An Ideal Husband
- A pert servant, Master Samwise.J.R.R. Tolkien -- The Two Towers
- You look pert this mornin', sir.Michael Shaara -- The Killer Angels
- The pert, meagre word fell to the ground.E.M. Forster -- A Passage to India
- She saw Martin come aboard at Blackwater, and pertly noted the friends who saw him off—two Englishmen, one puffy, one rangy, and a drylooking Scotsman.Sinclair Lewis -- Arrowsmith
- This pert Berowne was out of countenance quite.William Shakespeare -- Love's Labour's Lost
- — Now come, my Ariel! bring a corollary, Rather than want a spirit: appear, and pertly.William Shakespeare -- The Tempest
- —Here cometh the worthy prelate, as pert as a pyet.Sir Walter Scott -- Ivanhoe
- We been living in Knoxvul since pert near two years before Rufus was born.James Agee -- A Death in the Family
- Her pert face looked up at him, half serious, half amused.Alfred Bester -- The Demolished Man
- LIZA [pertly] You'd better leave a note for Mrs. Pearce about the coffee; for she won't be told by me.George Bernard Shaw -- Pygmalion
- Ruthie said pertly, "It ain't no crazier'n a lot of things.John Steinbeck -- The Grapes of Wrath
- 25 for a bottle of Pert, or $16 for a box fan.Jodi Picoult -- Nineteen Minutes
- So you, a pert Puss, would look upon him face to face.C.S. Lewis -- The Last Battle
- With a pert little glance toward the storeroom that said she was letting them out a minute early, she waved her magic ruler and released them.Ouida Sebestyen -- Words by Heart
- Of all I've seen, beyond compare; So sweetly virtuous and pure, And yet a little pert, be sure!Goethe (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe) -- Faust
(Editor's note: The suffix "-ness" converts an adjective to a noun that means the quality of. This is the same pattern you see in words like darkness, kindness, and coolness.)
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