spruce

• POS: Adjective, Noun

CIDE DICTIONARY

spruce, n. [OE. Spruce or Pruse, Prussia, Prussian. So named because it was first known as a native of Prussia, or because its sprouts were used for making, spruce beer. Cf. Spruce beer, below, Spruce, a.].

•  Any coniferous tree of the genus Picea, as the Norway spruce (P. excelsa), and the white and black spruces of America (P. alba and P. nigra), besides several others in the far Northwest. See Picea.  [1913 Webster]
•  The wood or timber of the spruce tree.  [1913 Webster]
•  Prussia leather; pruce.  [1913 Webster]

  "Spruce, a sort of leather corruptly so called for Prussia leather."  [1913 Webster]

Douglas spruce (Bot.), a valuable timber tree (Pseudotsuga Douglasii) of Northwestern America. -- Essence of spruce, a thick, dark-colored, bitterish, and acidulous liquid made by evaporating a decoction of the young branches of spruce. -- Hemlock spruce (Bot.), a graceful coniferous tree (Tsuga Canadensis) of North America. Its timber is valuable, and the bark is largely used in tanning leather. -- Spruce beer. [G. sprossenbier; sprosse sprout, shoot (akin to E. sprout, n.) + bier beer. The word was changed into spruce beer because the beer came from Prussia (OE. Spruce), or because it was made from the sprouts of the spruce. See Sprout, n., Beer, and cf. Spruce, n.] A kind of beer which is tinctured or flavored with spruce, either by means of the extract or by decoction. -- Spruce grouse. (Zoöl.) Same as Spruce partridge, below. -- Spruce leather. See Spruce, n., 3. -- Spruce partridge (Zoöl.), a handsome American grouse (Dendragapus Canadensis) found in Canada and the Northern United States; -- called also Canada grouse.

spruce, a. [Perhaps fr. spruce a sort of leather from Prussia, which was an article of finery. See Spruce, n.].

•  Neat, without elegance or dignity; smart; trim; -- formerly applied to things with a serious meaning; now chiefly applied to persons.  Remedy of Love.  [1913 Webster]
•  Sprightly; dashing.  Shak.  [1913 Webster]

  "He is so spruce that he can never be genteel."  [1913 Webster]

Syn. -- Finical; neat; trim. See Finical.

spruce, v. t. 

 To dress with affected neatness; to trim; to make spruce; -- often used with up; as, to spruce up the house for Company.  [1913 Webster]

spruce, v. i. 

 To dress one's self with affected neatness; as, to spruce up.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

spruce, adj. & v.
--adj. neat in dress and appearance; trim, smart.
--v.tr. & intr. (also refl.; usu. foll. by up) make or become smart.

Derivative

sprucely adv. spruceness n.

spruce, n.
1 any coniferous tree of the genus Picea, with dense foliage growing in a distinctive conical shape.
2 the wood of this tree used as timber.

Idiom

spruce beer a fermented beverage using spruce twigs and needles as flavouring.

spruce, v. Brit. sl.
1 tr. deceive.
2 intr. lie, practise deception.
3 intr. evade a duty, malinger.

Derivative

sprucer n.

Etymology

20th c.: orig. unkn.

THESAURUS

spruce

anal, bandbox, bowdlerized, braw, chic, classy, clean up, cleaned, cleaned up, cleansed, clothes-conscious, cosmopolitan, dapper, dashing, dinky, doggy, dressed to advantage, dressed to kill, dressed up, elegant, en grande tenue, endimanche, expurgated, exquisite, genteel, gussied up, in full dress, in full feather, in high feather, in tails, jaunty, modish, natty, neat, nifty, nobby, posh, primp, purged, purified, recherche, refined, reformed, ritzy, sassy, sharp, shipshape, sleek, slick, slicked up, smart, smarten up, smug, snazzy, snug, soigne, soignee, sophisticated, spiffy, spruce up, straighten out, straighten up, style-conscious, stylish, swank, swanky, swell, tidy, tidy up, tight, titivate, tricksy, trig, trim, well turned-out, well-cared-for, well-dressed, well-groomed

ROGET THESAURUS

spruce

Cleanness

N cleanness, cleanliness, purity, cleaning, purification, defecation, purgation, lustration, detersion, abstersion, epuration, mundation, ablution, lavation, colature, disinfection, drainage, sewerage, lavatory, laundry, washhouse, washerwoman, laundress, dhobi, laundryman, washerman, scavenger, dustman, sweep, white wings brush, broom, besom, mop, rake, shovel, sieve, riddle, screen, filter, blotter, napkin, cloth, maukin, malkin, handkerchief, towel, sudary, doyley, doily, duster, sponge, mop, swab, cover, drugget, wash, lotion, detergent, cathartic, purgative, purifier, disinfectant, aperient, benzene, benzine benzol, benolin, bleaching powder, chloride of lime, dentifrice, deobstruent, laxative, clean, cleanly, pure, immaculate, spotless, stainless, taintless, trig, without a stain, unstained, unspotted, unsoiled, unsullied, untainted, uninfected, sweet, sweet as a nut, neat, spruce, tidy, trim, gimp, clean as a new penny, like a cat in pattens, cleaned, kempt, abstergent, cathartic, cleansing, purifying, neatly, clean as a whistle.

Beauty

N beauty, the beautiful, to kalon, le beau ideal, aesthetics, callaesthetics, pulchritude, form, elegance, grace, beauty unadorned, natural beauty, symmetry, comeliness, fairness, polish, gloss, good effect, good looks, belle tournure, trigness, bloom, brilliancy, radiance, splendor, gorgeousness, magnificence, sublimity, sublimification, concinnity, delicacy, refinement, charm, je ne sais quoi, style, Venus, Aphrodite, Hebe, the Graces, Peri, Houri, Cupid, Apollo, Hyperion, Adonis, Antionous, Narcissus, peacock, butterfly, garden, flower of, pink of, bijou, jewel, work of art, flower, flow'ret gay, wildflower, rose, lily, anemone, asphodel, buttercup, crane's bill, daffodil, tulip, tiger lily, day lily, begonia, marigold, geranium, lily of the valley, ranunculus, rhododendron, windflower, pleasurableness, beautifying, landscaping, landscape gardening, decoration, calisthenics, beauty, hunk (of men), beautiful, beauteous, handsome, gorgeous, pretty, lovely, graceful, elegant, prepossessing, attractive, delicate, dainty, refined, fair, personable, comely, seemly, bonny, good-looking, well-favored, well-made, well-formed, well- proportioned, proper, shapely, symmetrical, harmonious, sightly, fit to be seen, passable, not amiss, goodly, dapper, tight, jimp, gimp, janty, jaunty, trig, natty, quaint, trim, tidy, neat, spruce, smart, tricksy, bright, bright eyed, rosy cheeked, cherry cheeked, rosy, ruddy, blooming, in full bloom, brilliant, shining, beamy, beaming, sparkling, splendid, resplendent, dazzling, glowing, glossy, sleek, rich, superb, magnificent, grand, fine, sublime, showy, specious, artistic, artistical, aesthetic, picturesque, pictorial, fait a peindre, well-composed, well grouped, well varied, curious, enchanting becoming, ornamental, undeformed, undefaced, unspotted, spotless, auxilium non leve vultus habet, beauty born of murmuring sound, flowers preach to us if we will hear, gratior ac pulchro veniens in corpore virtus, none but the brave deserve the fair, thou who hast the fatal gift of beauty.