spruce up
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English
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Audio (General Australian): (file)
Verb
[edit]spruce up (third-person singular simple present spruces up, present participle sprucing up, simple past and past participle spruced up)
- (idiomatic) To dress or arrange smartly, elegantly, and neatly; to smarten.
- (idiomatic) To refresh, revamp; to freshen or improve something, especially its appearance.
- Fresh paint and some new curtains would do a lot to spruce up this dark room.
- 2010, Bruce Gilley, “Deng Xiaoping and His Successors (1976 to the present)”, in William A. Joseph, editor, Politics in China: An Introduction[1], Oxford University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 114:
- Hu Yaobang was officially rehabilitated on the ninetieth anniversary of his birth in 2005 and his mausoleum in China Youth League City (Gongqingcheng) in Jiangxi province was spruced up.
Synonyms
[edit]Translations
[edit]to dress smartly, elegantly
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to refresh, revamp; to freshen or improve something, especially its appearance — see also spiff up
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