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spruce 1 (sprs)
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n.
1.
a. Any of various coniferous evergreen trees of the genus Picea, having flattened or four-angled needlelike leaves, a conic shape, pendulous cones, and soft wood often used for paper pulp.
b. Any of various similar or related trees.
c. The wood of any of these trees.
2. A grayish green to dark greenish black.
[Short for obsolete Spruce fir, Prussian fir, from Middle English Spruce, Prussia, alteration of Pruce from Anglo-Norman Pruz, from Medieval Latin Prussia.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 
spruce 2 (sprs)
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adj. spruc·er, spruc·est
Neat, trim, and smart in appearance: "a good-looking man; spruce and dapper, and very tidy" (Anthony Trollope).
v. spruced, spruc·ing, spruc·es
v.tr.
To make neat and trim: spruced up the chairs with new slipcovers.
v.intr.
To make oneself neat and smart in appearance: He was sprucing for the school dance.
[Perhaps from obsolete spruce leather, Prussian leather, from Middle English Spruce, Prussia; see SPRUCE1.]
sprucely adv.
spruceness n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

    Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

    Indo-European Roots

    Semitic Roots

    The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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