spruce-up

American

[sproos-uhp] / ˈsprusˌʌp /

noun

an act of cleaning up, refurbishing, renovating, or the like.

spruce up British

verb

(adverb) to make (oneself, a person, or thing) smart and neat

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

spruce up Idioms

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.

Etymology

Origin of spruce-up

Noun use of verb phrase spruce up

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

One former official recalls a departing prime minister being peeved there was an "office spruce-up", with walls being freshly painted for their replacement about to arrive.

From BBC • Jul. 4, 2026

You probably don’t want to put a new coat of paint on your exterior walls in February, but winter is an excellent time for interior painting and giving your rooms a quick spruce-up.

From Seattle Times • Dec. 5, 2022

The books are undergoing a spruce-up this spring.

From Slate • Apr. 4, 2016

He figured it had been about 10 years since the road had gotten such a spruce-up.

From New York Times • Nov. 19, 2012

Fresh from a multimillion-dollar spruce-up by Hirsch Bedner this past July, the Four Seasons has rightly reclaimed its crown as the best hotel in the buzzy Orchard Road shopping district.

From Time Magazine Archive

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023