spruce

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Contents

English[edit]

Picea abies, a species of spruce (1)

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English, an alteration of Pruce (“Prussia”), from new Latin, from a Baltic language, probably Old Prussian; for more, see Prussia. Spruce, spruse (1412), and Sprws (1378) were terms for commodities brought to England by Hanseatic merchants (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.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

spruce (usually uncountable; plural spruces)

  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!

Translations[edit]

tree from the genus Picea
wood of a spruce
attributive: made of the wood of the spruce

See also[edit]

Adjective[edit]

spruce (comparative sprucer, superlative sprucest)

  1. (comparable) Smart, trim, and elegant in appearance; fastidious (said of a person).

Translations[edit]

smart and elegant

Verb[edit]

spruce (third-person singular simple present spruces, present participle sprucing, simple past and past participle spruced)

  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[edit]

References[edit]

  • “spruce” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary (2001).

Anagrams[edit]

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