To perk oneself. To plume oneself on anything. (Welsh, percu, to smarten or plume feathers, perc, neat.)
You begin to perk up a bit—i.e. to get a little fatter and more plump after an illness. (See above.)
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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.
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