spruce

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   dress and groom with particular care, as for a special occasion

   We spruced up for the party.

Multiword verbs with spruce

• spruce up Phrasal verb C2

  to make someone or something look neater and more attractive

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Spruce developed from Spruce and Pruce, former English names for Prussia that could also mean “Prussian.” The tree was named for its importation from Prussia. The adjective meaning “neat or smart in appearance” probably arose from fashionable Prussian goods such as spruce leather, imported in the 16th century.

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.

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External links

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• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary