also perve, "a sexual pervert," 1944, slang shortening of (sexual) pervert (n.). As a slang verb, by 1941 as "to act erotically" (intransitive), by 1959 as "to eroticize" something (transitive).
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pervert n.
1660s, "one who has forsaken a doctrine or system regarded as true, an apostate," from pervert (v.). The psychological sense of "one who has a perversion of the sexual instinct" is attested by 1897 (Havelock Ellis), originally especially of homosexuals, short for sexual pervert, which is attested by 1889.