spruce
/spɹuːs/ noun, adjective, verb, proper noun
Forms spruces sprucer sprucest sprucing spruced
- noun Any of various large coniferous evergreen trees or shrubs from the genus Picea, found in northern temperate and boreal regions; originally and more fully spruce fir.
- noun (uncountable) The wood of a spruce.
- noun (used attributively) Made of the wood of the spruce. “That spruce table is beautiful!”
- noun (obsolete) Prussian leather; pruce.
- adjective (comparable) Smart, trim, and elegant in appearance; fastidious (said of a person).
- verb (usually with up) To arrange neatly; tidy up.
- verb (ambitransitive, usually with up) To make oneself spruce (neat and elegant in appearance).
- verb To tease.
- proper noun (obsolete) Prussia.
- proper noun A surname.
- proper noun An unincorporated community in Caledonia Township, Alcona County, Michigan.
- proper noun A township in Roseau County, Minnesota, named for spruce trees there.
- proper noun An unincorporated community in Bates County, Missouri.
- proper noun A town and unincorporated community therein, in Oconto County, Wisconsin.
Synonyms
pulchritudinous prettify neaten titivate spruce up tittivate smarten up slick up spiff up dapper dashing jaunty natty raffish rakish spiffy snappy
Etymology
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.
For Prussia, an alteration of Pruce; see that entry and spruce for more.
Webster’s 1913
- noun Any coniferous tree of the genus Picea, as the Norway spruce (P. excelsa), and the white and black spruces of America (P. alba and P. nigra), besides several others in the far Northwest. See Picea.
- noun The wood or timber of the spruce tree.
- adjective Neat, without elegance or dignity; --formerly applied to things with a serious meaning; now chiefly applied to persons. "Neat and spruce array." Remedy of Love.
- adjective Sprightly; dashing. [Obs.] "Now, my spruce companions." Shak.
Etymology [OE. Spruce or Pruse, Prussia, Prussian. So named because it was first known as a native of Prussia, or because its sprouts were used for making, spruce beer. Cf. Spruce beer, below, Spruce, a.]
Etymology [Perhaps fr. spruce a sort of leather from Prussia, which was an article of finery. See Spruce, n.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “spruce”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details