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spruce - 10 dictionary results

spruce

1  [sproos] ,
Use spruce in a Sentence
–noun
1. any evergreen, coniferous tree of the genus Picea, of the pine family, having short, angular, needle-shaped leaves attached singly around twigs and bearing hanging cones with persistent scales.
2. any of various allied trees, as the Douglas fir and the hemlock spruce.
3. the wood of any such tree.
–adjective
4. made from the wood of a spruce tree or trees.
5. containing or abounding in spruce trees.
Origin:
1350–1400; ME, special use of Spruce, sandhi var. of Pruce < OF Pruce < ML Prussia Prussia, whence the timber came

spruce

2  [sproos] ,adjective, spruc⋅er, spruc⋅est, verb, spruced, spruc⋅ing.
–adjective
1. trim in dress or appearance; neat; smart; dapper.
–verb (used with object)
2. to make spruce or smart (often fol. by up): Spruce up the children before the company comes.
–verb (used without object)
3. to make oneself spruce (usually fol. by up).
Origin:
1580–90; obs. spruce jerkin orig., jerkin made of spruce leather, i.e., leather imported from Prussia (see spruce 1 ), hence fine, smart, etc.

Related forms:
sprucely, adverb
spruceness, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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spruce 1   (sprōōs)   
n.  
    1. Any of various coniferous evergreen trees of the genus Picea, having needlelike foliage, drooping cones, and soft wood often used for paper pulp.
    2. Any of various similar or related trees.
    3. The wood of any of these trees.
  2. A grayish green to dark greenish black.

[Short for obsolete Spruce fir, Prussian fir, from Middle English Spruce, Prussia, alteration of Pruce from Anglo-Norman Pruz, from Medieval Latin Prussia.]
spruce 2   (sprōōs)   
adj.   spruc·er, spruc·est
Neat, trim, and smart in appearance: "a good-looking man; spruce and dapper, and very tidy" (Anthony Trollope).
v.   spruced, spruc·ing, spruc·es

v.   tr.
To make neat and trim: spruced up the chairs with new slipcovers.
v.   intr.
To make oneself neat and smart in appearance: He was sprucing for the school dance.

[Perhaps from obsolete spruce leather, Prussian leather, from Middle English Spruce, Prussia; see spruce1.]
spruce'ly adv., spruce'ness n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Spruce

Spruce\, n. [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.]

1. (Bot.) 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.

2. The wood or timber of the spruce tree.

3. Prussia leather; pruce. [Obs.]

Spruce, a sort of leather corruptly so called for Prussia leather. --E. Phillips.

Douglas spruce (Bot.), a valuable timber tree (Pseudotsuga Douglasii) of Northwestern America.

Essence of spruce, a thick, dark-colored, bitterish, and acidulous liquid made by evaporating a decoction of the young branches of spruce.

Hemlock spruce (Bot.), a graceful coniferous tree (Tsuga Canadensis) of North America. Its timber is valuable, and the bark is largely used in tanning leather.

Spruce beer. [G. sprossenbier; sprosse sprout, shoot (akin to E. sprout, n.) + bier beer. The word was changed into spruce because the beer came from Prussia (OE. Spruce), or because it was made from the sprouts of the spruce. See Sprout, n., Beer, and cf. Spruce, n.] A kind of beer which is tinctured or flavored with spruce, either by means of the extract or by decoction.

Spruce grouse. (Zo["o]l.) Same as Spruce partridge, below.

Spruce leather. See Spruce, n., 3.

Spruce partridge (Zo["o]l.), a handsome American grouse (Dendragapus Canadensis) found in Canada and the Northern United States; -- called also Canada grouse.

Spruce

Spruce\, a. [Compar. Sprucer; superl. Sprucest] [Perhaps fr. spruce a sort of leather from Prussia, which was an article of finery. See Spruce, n.]

1. 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.

2. Sprightly; dashing. [Obs.] "Now, my spruce companions." --Shak.

He is so spruce that he can never be genteel. --Tatler.

Syn: Finical; neat; trim. See Finical. -- Sruce"ly, adv. -- Spruce"ness, n.

Spruce

Spruce\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Spruced; p. pr. & vb. n. Sprucing.] To dress with affected neatness; to trim; to make spruce.

Spruce

Spruce\, v. i. To dress one's self with affected neatness; as, to spruce up.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : spruce
Italian: elegante,
German: adrett,
Japanese: しゃれた
More Translations »

spruce  (n.)
"evergreen tree," 1670, from spruse (adj.) "made of spruce wood" (1412), lit. "from Prussia," from Spruce, Sprws (1378), unexplained alterations of Pruce "Prussia," from O.Fr. Spruce seems to have been a generic term for commodities brought to England by Hanseatic merchants (beer, board, leather, see spruce (v.)), and the tree was believed to have come from Prussia.

spruce  (v.)
1594, from the adj. meaning "to make trim or neat," from spruce leather (1466, see spruce (n.)), which was used to make a popular style of jerkins in the 1400s that was considered smart-looking.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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