Standard Lemma guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
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adj
Smart, trim, and elegant in appearance; fastidious (said of a person).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: comparable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
name
Prussia.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
name
A surname.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
name
A number of places in the United States:
An unincorporated community in Caledonia Township, Alcona County, Michigan.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
name
A number of places in the United States:
A township in Roseau County, Minnesota, named for spruce trees there.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
name
A number of places in the United States:
An unincorporated community in Bates County, Missouri.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
name
A number of places in the United States:
A town and unincorporated community therein, in Oconto County, Wisconsin.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Any of various large coniferous evergreen trees or shrubs from the genus Picea, found in northern temperate and boreal regions; originally and more fully spruce fir.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
The wood of a spruce.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Made of the wood of the spruce.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: attributive, countable, uncountable
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Prussian leather; pruce.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, obsolete, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To arrange neatly; tidy up.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: usually, with-up
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: prettify, neaten, titivate
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To make oneself spruce (neat and elegant in appearance).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: ambitransitive, usually, with-up
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To tease.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adjective satellite
marked by up-to-dateness in dress and manners
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Synonyms: dapper, dashing, jaunty, natty, raffish, rakish, spiffy, snappy
Antonyms: none provided
noun
any coniferous tree of the genus Picea
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: conifer, coniferous tree
Narrower terms: Norway spruce, Picea abies, weeping spruce, Brewer's spruce, Picea breweriana, Engelmann spruce, Engelmann's spruce, Picea engelmannii, white spruce, Picea glauca, black spruce, Picea mariana, spruce pine, Siberian spruce, Picea obovata, Sitka spruce, Picea sitchensis, oriental spruce, Picea orientalis, Colorado spruce, Colorado blue spruce, silver spruce, Picea pungens, red spruce, eastern spruce, yellow spruce, Picea rubens
noun
light soft moderately strong wood of spruce trees; used especially for timbers and millwork
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: wood
verb
dress and groom with particular care, as for a special occasion
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Synonyms: spruce up, slick up, smarten up
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: groom, neaten
verb
make neat, smart, or trim
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Synonyms: spruce up, titivate, tittivate, smarten up, slick up, spiff up
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: fancify, beautify, embellish, prettify
History
From Middle English Spruce, an alteration of Pruce (“Prussia”), from Medieval 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.
For Prussia, an alteration of Pruce; see that entry and spruce for more.
Across languages
172 source translations are retained for this English entry.
