spruce Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun light soft moderately strong wood of spruce trees; used especially for timbers and millwork
  2. noun any coniferous tree of the genus Picea
  3. verb make neat, smart, or trim
    tittivate; smarten up; slick up; titivate; spruce up; spiff up.
    • Spruce up your house for Spring
    • titivate the child
  4. verb dress and groom with particular care, as for a special occasion
    slick up; smarten up; spruce up.
    • He spruced up for the party
  5. adjective satellite marked by up-to-dateness in dress and manners
    rakish; spiffy; natty; snappy; raffish; dashing; dapper; jaunty.
    • a dapper young man
    • a jaunty red hat

WordNet

Spruce noun
Etymology
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.
Definitions
  1. (Bot.) 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.
  2. The wood or timber of the spruce tree.
  3. Prussia leather; pruce. Obs.
    Spruce, a sort of leather corruptly so called for Prussia leather. E. Phillips.
Spruce adjective
Etymology
Perhaps fr. spruce a sort of leather from Prussia, which was an article of finery. See Spruce, n.
Wordforms
comparative Sprucer ; superlative Sprucest
Definitions
  1. Neat, without elegance or dignity; -- formerly applied to things with a serious meaning; now chiefly applied to persons. "Neat and spruce array." Remedy of Love.
  2. Sprightly; dashing. Obs. "Now, my spruce companions." Shak.
    He is so spruce that he can never be genteel. Tatler.
    Syn. -- Finical; neat; trim. See Finical. -- Sruce"ly, adv. -- Spruce"ness, n.
Spruce transitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Spruced ; present participle & verbal noun Sprucing
Definitions
  1. To dress with affected neatness; to trim; to make spruce.
Spruce intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To dress one's self with affected neatness; as, to spruce up.

Webster 1913