Spruce

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -uːs

Origin

From Middle English, an alteration of Pruce ("Prussia"), from new Latin, from a language, probably Old Prussian; for more, see Prussia. Spruce, spruse (1412), and Sprws (1378) were terms for commodities brought to England by Hanseatic League (beer, wood, leather). The tree with this name was also believed to have been native to Prussia. The adjective and verb senses ("trim, neat" and "to make trim, neat") are attested from 1594, and originate with spruce leather (1466), which was used to make a popular style of jerkins in the 1400s that was considered smart-looking.

Full definition of spruce

Noun

1. Any of various large coniferous evergreen trees from the genus Picea, found in northern temperate and boreal regions; originally and more fully spruce fir.
2. (uncountable) The wood of a spruce.
3. (used attributively) Made of the wood of the spruce.That spruce table is beautiful!
4. (obsolete) Prussia leather; pruce.
• E. PhillipsSpruce, a sort of leather corruptly so called for Prussia leather.

Adjective

1. (comparable) Smart, trim, and elegant in appearance; fastidious (said of a person).
• 1919, William Somerset Maugham, ,He had great neatness of person, and he continued to wear his spruce black coat and his bowler hat, always a little too small for him, in a dapper, jaunty manner.
• 2012, The Economist, 13th Oct 2012, Plessey returns: Chips with everythingThe two clean rooms, where chips are made, are sprucer than a hospital theatre.

Verb

1. (usually with up) To arrange neatly; tidy up.
2. (usually with up)) To make oneself spruce (neat and elegant in appearance).
3. To tease.

Derived terms

• spruce up

Anagrams

• cusper