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spruce up

 - 4 dictionary results

spruce-up

  [sproos-uhp]
–noun
an act of cleaning up, refurbishing, renovating, or the like.
Use spruce up in a Sentence
Origin:
n. use of v. phrase spruce up

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. 2010.
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Word Origin & History

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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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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