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spruce up

 - 4 dictionary results

spruce

2  [sproos] ,adjective, spruc⋅er, spruc⋅est, verb, spruced, spruc⋅ing.
Use spruce up in a Sentence
–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

spruce-up

  [sproos-uhp]
–noun
an act of cleaning up, refurbishing, renovating, or the like.
Origin:
n. use of v. phrase spruce up
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Word Origin & History

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.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Idioms & Phrases

spruce up

Make neat and trim, as in She spruced up the chairs with new cushions. This idiom originated in the late 1500s as simply spruce but had acquired up by 1676.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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