[sproos] 
,| 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. |
| 4. | made from the wood of a spruce tree or trees. |
| 5. | containing or abounding in spruce trees. |
[sproos] ,adjective, spruc⋅er, spruc⋅est, verb, spruced, spruc⋅ing.| 1. | trim in dress or appearance; neat; smart; dapper. |
| 2. | to make spruce or smart (often fol. by up): Spruce up the children before the company comes. |
| 3. | to make oneself spruce (usually fol. by up). |
| spruce 1 (sprōōs) n.
[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. |