Definition of "pertness" []

• The quality of being pert; cheekiness, impudence. (noun)

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• "They correct none of the childish nasty tricks, which they get at school; nor the illiberal manners which they contract at the university; nor the frivolous and superficial pertness, which is commonly all that they acquire by their travels."
• "Pope gained but little in the warfare he waged with him, for this plain reason -- that the great poet accuses his adversary of dullness, which was not by any means one of his sins, instead of selecting one of the numerous faults, such as pertness, petulance, and presumption, of which he was really guilty."
• "It is unnecessary to add that the assembled guests, in their disgust at my "pertness," dropped the argument on slavery."