Definitions for spruce
sprusspruce

Princeton's WordNetRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. sprucenoun

   light soft moderately strong wood of spruce trees; used especially for timbers and millwork

2. spruceadjective

   any coniferous tree of the genus Picea

3. dapper, dashing, jaunty, natty, raffish, rakish, spiffy, snappy, spruceverb

   marked by up-to-dateness in dress and manners

   "a dapper young man"; "a jaunty red hat"

4. spruce up, spruce, titivate, tittivate, smarten up, slick up, spiff upverb

   make neat, smart, or trim

   "Spruce up your house for Spring"; "titivate the child"

5. spruce up, spruce, slick up, smarten upverb

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

   "He spruced up for the party"

WiktionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. sprucenoun

   Any of various large coniferous evergreen trees from the genus Picea, found in northern temperate and boreal regions; originally and more fully spruce fir.

2. sprucenoun

   The wood of a spruce.

3. spruceverb

   (usually with up) to arrange neatly; tidy up

4. spruceverb

   (usually with up) to make oneself spruce (neat and elegant in appearance)

5. spruceverb

   to tease

6. spruceadjective

   Smart, trim, and elegant in appearance; fastidious (said of a person).

7. Sprucenoun

   Prussia.

8. Etymology: Alteration of Pruce.

Samuel Johnson's DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. SPRUCEadjective

   Nice; trim; neat without elegance.

   Etymology: Stephen Skinner derives this word from preux, French; but he proposes it with hesitation: Franciscus Junius thinks it comes from sprout; Meric Casaubon trifles yet more contemptibly. I know not whence to deduce it, except from pruce. In ancient books we find furniture of pruce a thing costly and elegant, and thence probably came spruce.

   The tree
   That wraps that crystal in a wooden tomb,
   Shall be took up spruce, fill’d with diamond. John Donne.

   Thou wilt not leave me in the middle street,
   Tho’ some more spruce companion thou do’st meet. John Donne.

   Along the crisped shades and bow’rs
   Revels the spruce and jocund Spring;
   The graces, and the rosy-bosom’d hours,
   Thither all their bounties bring. John Milton.

   I must not slip into too spruce a style for serious matters; and yet I approve not that dull insipid way of writing practised by many chymists. Boyle.

   He put his band and beard in order,
   The sprucer to accost and board her. Hudibras.

   He is so spruce, that he can never be genteel. Tatler.

   This Tim makes a strange figure with that ragged coat under his livery: can’t he go spruce and clean? Arbuthnot.

2. To Spruceverb

   To dress with affected neatness.

   Etymology: from the noun.

WikipediaRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Spruce

   A spruce is a tree of the genus Picea (), a genus of about 35 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal (taiga) regions of the Earth. Picea is the sole genus in the subfamily Piceoideae. Spruces are large trees, from about 20 to 60 m (about 60–200 ft) tall when mature, and have whorled branches and conical form. They can be distinguished from other members of the pine family by their needles (leaves), which are four-sided and attached singly to small persistent peg-like structures (pulvini or sterigmata) on the branches, and by their cones (without any protruding bracts), which hang downwards after they are pollinated. The needles are shed when 4–10 years old, leaving the branches rough with the retained pegs. In other similar genera, the branches are fairly smooth. Spruce are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera (moth and butterfly) species, such as the eastern spruce budworm. They are also used by the larvae of gall adelgids (Adelges species). In the mountains of western Sweden, scientists have found a Norway spruce, nicknamed Old Tjikko, which by reproducing through layering, has reached an age of 9,550 years and is claimed to be the world's oldest known living tree.

ChatGPTRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. spruce

   A spruce is a type of evergreen tree belonging to the genus Picea, found in the northern temperate and boreal regions of the earth. They have needle-like leaves and produce cones. The wood from spruce trees is often used in making musical instruments and in construction. The term 'spruce' may also refer to making something neat and tidy, often in relation to one’s appearance.

Webster DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Spruceadjective

   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. Spruceadjective

   the wood or timber of the spruce tree

3. Spruceadjective

   prussia leather; pruce

4. Sprucenoun

   neat, without elegance or dignity; -- formerly applied to things with a serious meaning; now chiefly applied to persons

5. Sprucenoun

   sprightly; dashing

6. Spruceverb

   to dress with affected neatness; to trim; to make spruce

7. Spruceverb

   to dress one's self with affected neatness; as, to spruce up

8. 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.]

WikidataRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Spruce

   A spruce is a tree of the genus Picea, a genus of about 35 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the Family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal regions of the earth. Spruces are large trees, from 20–60 metres tall when mature, and can be distinguished by their whorled branches and conical form. The needles, or leaves, of spruce trees are attached singly to the branches in a spiral fashion, each needle on a small peg-like structure called a pulvinus. The needles are shed when 4–10 years old, leaving the branches rough with the retained pulvinus. Spruces are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species; see list of Lepidoptera that feed on spruces. They are also used by the larvae of gall adelgids. In the mountains of western Sweden scientists have found a Norway Spruce tree, nicknamed Old Tjikko, which by reproducing through layering has reached an age of 9,550 years and is claimed to be the world's oldest known living tree.

Chambers 20th Century DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Spruce

   sprōōs, adj. smart: neat, dapper: over-fastidious, finical.—n. Prussian leather.—v.t. to smarten.—v.i. to become spruce or smart.—n. Spruce′-fir, or merely Spruce, any tree of the genus Picea of the pine family (Coniferæ), or the wood of such a tree.—adv. Spruce′ly.—n. Spruce′ness.—v.t. Spru′cify, to smarten. [O. Fr. Pruce—Late L. Prussia, Ger. Preussen.]

Surnames Frequency by Census RecordsRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. SPRUCE

   According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Spruce is ranked #33121 in terms of the most common surnames in America.
   
   The Spruce surname appeared 691 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 would have the surname Spruce.
   
   68.7% or 475 total occurrences were White.
   15.4% or 107 total occurrences were Black.
   9.5% or 66 total occurrences were American Indian or Alaskan Native.
   4% or 28 total occurrences were of two or more races.
   2.1% or 15 total occurrences were of Hispanic origin.

Matched Categories

1. • Beautify
   • Groom
   • Wood

Anagrams for spruce »

1. cusper

How to pronounce spruce?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say spruce in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of spruce in Chaldean Numerology is: 9

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of spruce in Pythagorean Numerology is: 1

Examples of spruce in a Sentence

1. Carol Schweitzer:

   Dominant pollen that was found on this young lady’s clothing was oak, in addition, there was a lot of spruce and hemlock and those three pollens the researcher was able to articulate were from the northeastern U.S., probably in a very heavy forest area.

2. Jaromir Blaha:

   Eighty percent of Czech spruce forests are at high risk of dying, most of our spruce monocultures in lower and mid-laying areas will probably disappear, in years or in a few decades.

3. Carol Schweitzer:

   In addition, there was a lot of spruce and hemlock and those three pollens the researcher was able to articulate were from the northeastern U.S., probably in a very heavy forest area.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

References

1. ^ Princeton's WordNet
   http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=spruce
2. ^ Wiktionary
   https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Spruce
3. ^ Samuel Johnson's Dictionary
   https://johnsonsdictionaryonline.com/views/search.php?term=spruce
4. ^ Wikipedia
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spruce
5. ^ ChatGPT
   https://chat.openai.com
6. ^ Webster Dictionary
   https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/spruce
7. ^ Wikidata
   https://www.wikidata.org/w/index.php?search=spruce
8. ^ Chambers 20th Century Dictionary
   https://www.gutenberg.org/files/37683/37683-h/37683-h.htm#:~:text=spruce
9. ^ Surnames Frequency by Census Records
   https://www.census.gov/topics/population/genealogy/data/2010_surnames.html