Link Centre Dictionary

spruce

UK/spɹʉs/ US/spɹuːs/ uncommon obsolete
noun (2) adjective (1) verb (2)

noun

1.

light soft moderately strong wood of spruce trees; used especially for timbers and millwork

2.

any coniferous tree of the genus Picea

adjective

1.

marked by smartness in dress and manners

  • “a dapper young man”
  • “a jaunty red hat”
Synonyms
Similar

verb

1.

make neat, smart, or trim

  • “Spruce up your house for Spring”
  • “titivate the child”
Synonyms
2.

dress and groom with particular care, as for a special occasion

  • “He spruced up for the party”
Synonyms

Origin

From Middle English Spruce, an alteration of Pruce (“Prussia”), from Medieval Latin, from a Baltic language, probably Old Prussian; for more, see Prussia. Spruce, spruse (1412), and Sprws (1378) were terms for commodities brought to England by Hanseatic merchants (beer, wood, leather). The tree with this name was also believed to have been native to Prussia. The adjective and verb senses ("trim, neat" and "to make trim, neat") are attested from 1594, and originate with spruce leather (1466), which was used to make a popular style of jerkins in the 1400s that was considered smart-looking.

Phrases

  • black spruce
  • blue spruce
  • Brewer's spruce
  • Colorado blue spruce
  • Colorado green spruce
  • Colorado spruce
  • dark-bark spruce
  • Engelmann spruce
  • spruce up

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

Parts

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.