spruce pine

American  

noun

1. a tall coniferous tree, Pinus glabra, of the southeastern U.S., having smooth, gray bark and needles in bundles of two.

2. any of several other pines, as P. elliottii or P. virginiana.

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spruce pine British  

noun

1. a large pine tree, Pinus glabra, of the southeastern US

2. any of several similar plants, such as certain pines, hemlocks, and spruces

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Etymology

Origin of spruce pine

An Americanism dating back to 1675–85

Example Sentences

On a shelf I find a book of landscapes filled with illustrations of every stinking tree that grows: sycamore, linden, aspen, willow, fir, tulip poplar, chestnut, elm, spruce, pine.

From Literature

The five-year experiment used infrared lamps and soil-heating cables to heat thousands of spruce, pine, and fir seedlings at two University of Michigan forest sites in northeastern Minnesota.

From Salon

West Fraser said 30 percent of its spruce, pine and fir exports went to Asia in the first quarter, up from 20 percent a year earlier and almost nothing five years ago.

From BusinessWeek

Woodsmen logged the spruce, pine and aspen for corduroy roads over the bogs.

From Time Magazine Archive

The billowing fire raced through tall stands of spruce, pine, oak and birch, cut westward across the brow of thickly timbered Mackenzie Mountain until it reached the little fishing hamlet of Pleasant Bay.

From Time Magazine Archive