spruce

1 of 3

verb

spruced; sprucing

transitive verb

: to make spruce
often used with up

intransitive verb

: to make oneself spruce
spruce up a bit

spruce

2 of 3

adjective

sprucer; sprucest
: neat or smart in appearance : trim
sprucely adverb
spruceness noun

spruce

3 of 3

noun

plural spruces also spruce
1
a
: any of a genus (Picea) of evergreen trees of the pine family with a conical head of dense foliage, flat or 4-sided needles, pendulous cones, and soft light wood
b
: any of several coniferous trees (such as Douglas fir) of similar habit
2
: the wood of a spruce

Examples of spruce in a Sentence

Verb hurriedly sprucing up the hotel dining room before the breakfast crowd began showing up Adjective He looked very spruce in his new suit. a slim, spruce man in a tailor-made business suit
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Verb
The company also sells various accessories that go in between the panels to spruce them up, like wine racks, shelves, and hooks. Julian Chokkattu, WIRED, 21 Dec. 2024 Other stars spruce it up a bit … and probably for a lot less money. Merle Ginsberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 Nov. 2024
Noun
At the edge of the conifer forest and overlooking a stream, soft, Grinch-green moss has started to return to the spruce trees. Christine Ro, Forbes, 12 Dec. 2024 Only four chalets in total, all of which are made of spruce and stone pine and equipped with their own kitchens, the lodge is about a mile north of Forestis and just a few miles from the Plose ski area. Lydia Mansel, Travel + Leisure, 10 Dec. 2024 See all Example Sentences for spruce 

Word History

Etymology

Adjective

perhaps from obsolete English Spruce leather leather imported from Prussia

Noun

obsolete Spruce Prussia, from Middle English, alteration of Pruce, from Anglo-French

First Known Use

Verb

1594, in the meaning defined at transitive sense

Adjective

1598, in the meaning defined above

Noun

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Time Traveler
The first known use of spruce was in the 15th century

Dictionary Entries Near spruce

Cite this Entry

“Spruce.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/spruce. Accessed 30 Dec. 2024.

Kids Definition

spruce

1 of 3 verb
spruced; sprucing
: to make or make oneself spruce
spruce up a room
spruce up a bit before going out to dinner

spruce

2 of 3 adjective
sprucer; sprucest
: neat or stylish in appearance
sprucely adverb
spruceness noun

spruce

3 of 3 noun
1
: any of a genus of usually pyramid-shaped evergreen trees that are related to the pines and have soft light wood
2
: the wood of a spruce

More from Merriam-Webster on spruce

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