spruce

¹ American  

[sproos] / sprus /

noun

• spruces
  plural

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.

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adjective

• sprucer,
  comparative
• sprucest
  superlative

1. made from the wood of a spruce tree or trees.

2. containing or abounding in spruce trees.

spruce ² American  

[sproos] / sprus /

adjective

• sprucer,
  comparative
• sprucest
  superlative

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

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verb (used with object)

spruced, sprucing

1. to make spruce or smart (often followed byup ).

   Spruce up the children before the company comes.

verb (used without object)

spruced, sprucing

1. to make oneself spruce (usually followed byup ).

spruce ¹ British  

/ spruːs /

noun

1. 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

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spruce ² British  

/ spruːs /

adjective

1. neat, smart, and trim

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• spruceness
  noun
• unspruced
  adjective
• sprucely
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• spruces
  plural

Adjectives

• sprucer
  comparative
• sprucest
  superlative

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Etymology

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 ( see spruce ¹), hence fine, smart, etc.

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Explanation

Spruce is a verb that means you pay special attention to your personal appearance, especially your grooming and clothing. If you want to spruce up for a wedding, you'll need to rent a tuxedo and do something with your hair. Spruce can also mean that you're making something else look better. You might spruce up the living room before your girlfriend's visit by vacuuming, throwing away all the trash, and putting away the dishes you left sitting around. Spruce is typically used in combination with the word up: spruce up. Spruce's use as a verb possibly originated from "spruce leather," which was used to make a popular type of jacket back in the 1400s.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

spruce spruces sprucer sprucest spruced sprucing

How can the Christmas celebration in Colorado go forward without a nice spruce?

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2026

Already this year, thousands of white spruce trees in the area around Wisley had browned leaves in early August, a sign they won’t cope with a hotter climate.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 31, 2026

A bring‑and‑buy sale on Canal Street was organised to raise money to spruce up the rather drab-looking hospital ward treating those with HIV and Aids at the height of the epidemic.

From BBC ● Aug. 25, 2026

With its tar-soaked rigging, creaking oak deck and 50 spruce oars, Draken Harald Harfagre is the largest modern replica of a Viking ship.

From Barron's ● Aug. 18, 2026

I rented a bulldozer and cleared four acres of the small—if ancient—black spruce and set to work.

From This Side of Wild by Gary Paulsen

"Previously, it was spruces or cedars, but today, we find endemic species better adapted to the climate," Merdan Arazmedov, a member of Turkmenistan's Nature Protection Society, told AFP.

From Barron's ● Dec. 18, 2025

There’s no escaping the fact the simulated emergency care being given under shade of spruces could be carried out in grim reality in the coming weeks and months.

From BBC ● Sep. 2, 2024

At the head of it all, where the grass grows into a forest mixed with pines, spruces, and birch, is a small bar with a "Huuva Hideaway" sign hanging above.

From Salon ● Aug. 28, 2022

Firefighters said the fire was mostly contained to the ground with some torching in spruces.

From Seattle Times ● Jun. 7, 2022

Dogwood, elms, hemlocks, balsam firs, and red spruces still thrived.

From "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson

Mr. Kabelac, who seemed the sprucer, less bashful of the two, spoke right up: "I'd be glad to marry her if Mrs. Stull says it's all right."

From Time Magazine Archive

His neck, but a moment before collarless, was now surrounded by a high white-washed wall; he flashed a crimson tie, and somehow his clothes looked newer and sprucer.

From The Statesmen Snowbound by Robert Fitzgerald

Or he would be denounced as a "sprucer" if he managed to arrive late for his meal and yet, by a trick, to secure a front place in the waiting queue at the canteen.

From Observations of an Orderly Some Glimpses of Life and Work in an English War Hospital by Ward Muir

Oh, if my hands adhere to cash, My gloves at least are clean, And rarely have the gentry flash In sprucer clothes been seen.

From Paul Clifford — Complete by Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron Lytton

You look very much sprucer than you did the last time you were at Bourg.

From The Nabob by W. Blaydes

Thenceforth, while Britain's Glubb Pasha built the British-equipped Arab Legion into Islam's sprucest fighting force, Abdullah ruled the sandy wastes as a Bedouin black-tent state.

From Time Magazine Archive

Would any one wish to see these remains tricked out in the sprucest, or even the richest, modern habiliments?

From The Book-Collector A General Survey of the Pursuit and of those who have engaged in it at Home and Abroad from the Earliest Period to the Present Time by William Carew Hazlitt

But Mr. Hugh Wenlock was on deck in the sprucest of his apparel, and was visibly anxious and fidgety, as befitted a man who shortly expected to enter into the bonds of matrimony.

From A Master of Fortune Being Further Adventures of Captain Kettle by Stanley L. Wood

Along thy sprucest bookshelves shine The works thou deemest most divine— The 'Art of Cookery,' and mine, My Murray.

From Life of Lord Byron, Vol. 4 With His Letters and Journals by Thomas Moore

They also spruced up the streets, picking litter, weeding, and painting bins.

From BBC ● Sep. 27, 2026

Some buildings were spruced up as part of a tourism drive launched in the 1990s, which peaked in the years following the landmark 2016 visit by former US President Barack Obama.

From Barron's ● Jun. 17, 2026

On a recent spring evening at Loma Alta Park — spruced up by the Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation, since the league’s former home at Farnsworth Park remains unusable — Gardner couldn’t help but smile.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 13, 2026

While he has not produced a successful and critically acclaimed new musical in many years, the better-known works in his catalog have been spruced up by innovative directors.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2025

Three days later, as the invitation had stated, Duane spruced himself up for what he hoped would be a tasty assortment of treats.

From "The Very, Very Far North" by Dan Bar-el

I like sprucing up my ramen with fresh bok choy, baby corn, spinach and pickled red onions.

From Salon ● Jul. 19, 2026

Lately, Chahal has been sprucing up the motor inn: new cabinets, new furniture, fresh paint every few months.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 14, 2026

Walmart is sprucing up its home goods to attract more high-income shoppers and better compete with the e-commerce titan.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 2, 2026

The firm also started sprucing up shops with inviting armchairs, new paint and ceramic mugs - all part of a $150,000-per-store "uplift" that is expected to take four years to complete.

From BBC ● Feb. 1, 2026

“Is that bad? Maybe they’re downsizing. Or redecorating. My dad says knowing what to throw away is the single most important thing about sprucing up your home.”

From "Liar & Spy" by Rebecca Stead

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