SPRUCE • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Spruce

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noun

Spruce n.

1.

(Bot.) Any coniferous tree of the genus Picea, as the Norway spruce (Picea excelsa), and the white and black spruces of America (Picea alba and Picea 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."

Douglas spruce (Bot.), a valuable timber tree (Pseudotsuga Douglasii) of Northwestern America.

Essence of spruce, a thick, dark-colored, bitterish, and acidulous liquid made by evaporating a decoction of the young branches of spruce.

Hemlock spruce (Bot.), a graceful coniferous tree (Tsuga Canadensis) of North America. Its timber is valuable, and the bark is largely used in tanning leather.

Spruce beer. A kind of beer which is tinctured or flavored with spruce, either by means of the extract or by decoction.

Spruce grouse. (Zool.) Same as Spruce partridge, below.

Spruce leather. See Spruce, n., 3.

Spruce partridge (Zool.), a handsome American grouse (Dendragapus Canadensis) found in Canada and the Northern United States; called also Canada grouse.

verb

Spruce v. t. (past & past part. spruced; pres. part. sprucing) To dress with affected neatness; to trim; to make spruce; often used with up; as, to spruce up the house for Company.

Spruce v. i. To dress one's self with affected neatness; as, to spruce up.

adjective

Spruce adj. (compar. sprucer; superl. sprucest)

1.

Neat, without elegance or dignity; smart; trim; formerly applied to things with a serious meaning; now chiefly applied to persons. "Neat and spruce array."

2.

Sprightly; dashing. (Obs.) "Now, my spruce companions." "He is so spruce that he can never be genteel."

Synonyms: Finical; neat; trim. See Finical.

See images of 'Spruce'

Etymology of 'Spruce'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Spruce" Quotes from Famous Books

... brandies of the trees, from whose low limbs dangle the tempting wares, and a stump serves as a chopping-block. Under the shrubbery, where the sun cannot penetrate, are stored home-made firkins full of yellow butter, and great cheeses, and heaps of substantial home-baked bread. Kegs of hard cider and spruce beer and perhaps more potent brews are abroach, and behind the haggling and jesting and bustle you may catch the sound of muskets or the whoop of the Indians from afar. Meanwhile, in the settlements, all manner of industries were stimulated, and a great number of women throughout ...

— The History of the United States from 1492 to 1910, Volume 1 • Julian Hawthorne

... filled. It had never looked handsomer. The rival factions had vied with each other in decorating it. Spruce and hemlock sprouted everywhere, and garlands of ground-ivy festooned walls and chancel. The delicious odor of balsam and of burning wax-candles was in the air. The people were all there in their Sunday clothes ...

— Children of the Tenements • Jacob A. Riis

... an' him wi't, an' there he was, clappin' his hands, an' stanin' juist like's he'd on a wid crinoline. You never heard sic a roostin' an' roarin' an' hear-hearin' an' hurrain'! I had to shut my een for fear o' bein' knokit deaf a'thegither. Stumpie Mertin jumpit up as spruce as gin he had baith his legs, instead o' only ane, an' forgettin' whaur he was, he glowered a' roond the wa' an' says, "Whaur's the ...

— My Man Sandy • J. B. Salmond

... more severe climate. In a lignite bed (a species of coal) found in nearly the same latitude as the forest growth just mentioned, we detect the presence of trees that grow only in cold northern climates, such as birch, mountain pine, larch, and spruce. And in some peat-bogs of Southern Europe belonging to this age are found willows now growing only in Spitzbergen, and some species of mosses that only thrive far to the north. It is quite evident that this deposit testifies to an altogether different climate from that indicated ...

— The Prehistoric World - Vanished Races • E. A. Allen

... of the younger group and led them through the garden to where some young spruce trees hid the wall. Here a surprise awaited them in the shape of two of the largest of the growing trees festooned with ribbons and laden with strange fruit in the shape of coloured toy balloons that bobbed about and tugged at their moorings as if anxious ...

— People of the Whirlpool • Mabel Osgood Wright

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