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

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.

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

Helped into the apartment by an X Square engineer, the AI-operated Quanta X1 Pro robot uses its cameras to identify areas it could spruce up.

From Barron's ● Jun. 11, 2026

Martin and Co. guitar, a seamless blend of spruce, mahogany, celluloid, ebony and mother-of-pearl.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 10, 2026

They are from 7 to 8 feet long, made from carefully selected 50-to-60-year-old pine and spruce trees felled in early summer; tests of replica spears have suggested a range of about 38 yards.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 30, 2026

Potato flatbread with spruce sprout pesto and pickled white currant.

From Salon ● Mar. 8, 2026

Chilled and tired, she came back down to the spruce tree near the lodge to wait for the ice storm to pass.

From "Frightful's Mountain" by Jean Craighead George

"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

Nothing spruces up outdoor entertaining like a unique centerpiece.

From Seattle Times ● Apr. 5, 2023

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

It was filled with thousands of perfectly rendered maples, oaks, spruces, and tamaracks.

From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline

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

In its whole constitution it had not a straight floor, and hardly a straight line; but it had outlasted, and clearly would yet outlast, many a better-trimmed building, many a sprucer public-house.

From Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens

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

There was dear old Ralph, looking quite ordinary and matter-of-fact, only rather sprucer than usual in his brand-new wedding garments.

From The Moon out of Reach by Margaret Pedler

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

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

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

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

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

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

As a sample they point to Penn’s Grand Concourse, which the MTA has spruced up in recent years with its own resources.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 13, 2026

By that point, gay marriage had become the law of the land and a new bar using the Stonewall name, now spruced up for tourists, had taken over the space, with a museum next door.

From New York Times ● Nov. 30, 2024

A massive 2008 restoration project spruced things up and placed the entire building on rubber earthquake pads.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 12, 2024

Last summer my mom and I spruced up the old cupboards with a coat of high-gloss white and threw down some chunky black and white checked linoleum.

From "Anthem of a Reluctant Prophet" by Joanne Proulx

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

From Salon ● Jul. 19, 2026

For used cars, dealers sometimes charge “reconditioning” fees even though sprucing up the vehicle is a necessary part of selling it, Baker said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 15, 2026

The project -- part of the capital city's sprucing up ahead of the nation's 250th anniversary celebrations on July 4 -- will cost about $1.5 million and take roughly three weeks, Trump told reporters Thursday.

From Barron's ● Apr. 25, 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

A pale coat of yellow paint makes a faint attempt at sprucing it up.

From "The Adoration of Jenna Fox" by Mary E. Pearson