spruce

¹

[ sproos ]

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

1. made from the wood of a spruce tree or trees.
2. containing or abounding in spruce trees.

spruce

²

[ sproos ]

adjective

, spruc·er, spruc·est.

1. trim in dress or appearance; neat; smart; dapper.

verb (used with object)

, spruced, spruc·ing.

1. to make spruce or smart (often followed by up ):

   Spruce up the children before the company comes.

verb (used without object)

, spruced, spruc·ing.

1. to make oneself spruce (usually followed by up ).

spruce

¹

/ spruːs /

adjective

1. neat, smart, and trim

spruce

²

/ spruːs /

noun

1. See black spruce, white spruce, blue spruce, Norway spruce
   any coniferous tree of the N temperate genus Picea, cultivated for timber and for ornament: family Pinaceae. They grow in a pyramidal shape and have needle-like leaves and light-coloured wood See also Norway spruce blue spruce white spruce black spruce
2. the wood of any of these trees

Derived Forms

• ˈspruceness, noun
• ˈsprucely, adverb

Other Words From

• spruce·ly adverb
• spruce·ness noun
• un·spruced adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of spruce¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, special use of Spruce, Sprus(e), variant of Pruce, Prus(se), from Old French Prusse, Pruisse, from Medieval Latin Prussia Prussia, source of the timber

Origin of spruce²

First recorded in 1580–90; obsolete spruce jerkin originally, jerkin made of spruce leather, i.e., leather imported from Prussia ( spruce ¹ ), hence fine, smart, etc.

Word History and Origins

Origin of spruce¹

C16: perhaps from Spruce leather a fashionable leather imported from Prussia; see spruce ¹

Origin of spruce²

C17: short for Spruce fir, from C14 Spruce Prussia, changed from Pruce, via Old French from Latin Prussia

Example Sentences

For example, Lowes tapped 18 influencers for its “Letters to Home” campaign, which rolled out earlier this month, to encourage people to give thanks for their homes as well as pick out gifts to spruce them up.

From Digiday

He added fresh limewash to the cave’s walls and ceiling, and installed shelves of untreated Alpine spruce, before welcoming 37 two-kilo wheels of tomme.

From Popular-Science

Adding a stipend to be used on sprucing up a home office set up or getting better WiFi is a way for agencies to “show we’re listening,” said Kirk Guthrie, svp and executive director of HR at Innocean.

From Digiday

If sprucing up your home network has not stopped your connection from snailing, or solved the dead zones plaguing your workday, it’s time to break out the big guns.

From Popular-Science

Our tent was tucked into a spruce forest above a pebble beach, and beyond the beach stretched miles of clear water, framed by the serrated, snow-dappled peaks of the Teton Range.

From Outside Online

I was sitting so low, even the permafrost-stunted spruce trees towered over me.

From The Daily Beast

A decade ago, they decided for a holiday botox spruce-up mit smooth-out.

From The Daily Beast

In Long Beach, the good old Queen Mary and Spruce Goose could finally sail again.

From The Daily Beast

Unfortunately, the FDNY is too busy to tell you how to avoid turning your 10-foot spruce into a 10-foot match.

From The Daily Beast

Scattergood fairly licked his lips as he thought of the millions upon millions of feet of spruce to be sawed into lumber.

From Project Gutenberg

Also, ownership of vast limits of growing spruce was necessary to the control of the valley.

From Project Gutenberg

There are sixty thousand acres of mighty good spruce in that triangle between us, and it's as good as ours.

From Project Gutenberg

And so Antler took courage and grasping a strong branch of a friendly spruce struggled through the deep snow.

From Project Gutenberg

Now we're looking about for somebody to supply us spruce cut to the proper length for pulpwood.

From Project Gutenberg