SPRUCE

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does spruce mean? 

• SPRUCE (noun)
  The noun SPRUCE has 2 senses:

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

2. any coniferous tree of the genus Picea

  Familiarity information: SPRUCE used as a noun is rare.

• SPRUCE (adjective)
  The adjective SPRUCE has 1 sense:

1. marked by up-to-dateness in dress and manners

  Familiarity information: SPRUCE used as an adjective is very rare.

• SPRUCE (verb)
  The verb SPRUCE has 2 senses:

1. make neat, smart, or trim

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

  Familiarity information: SPRUCE used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SPRUCE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

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

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Hypernyms ("spruce" is a kind of...):

wood (the hard fibrous lignified substance under the bark of trees)

Holonyms ("spruce" is a substance of...):

spruce (any coniferous tree of the genus Picea)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Any coniferous tree of the genus Picea

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Hypernyms ("spruce" is a kind of...):

conifer; coniferous tree (any gymnospermous tree or shrub bearing cones)

Meronyms (substance of "spruce"):

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

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "spruce"):

Norway spruce; Picea abies (tall pyramidal spruce native to northern Europe having dark green foliage on spreading branches with pendulous branchlets and long pendulous cones)

Brewer's spruce; Picea breweriana; weeping spruce (medium-sized spruce of California and Oregon having pendulous branches)

Engelmann's spruce; Engelmann spruce; Picea engelmannii (tall spruce of Rocky Mountains and British Columbia with blue-green needles and acutely conic crown; wood used for rough lumber and boxes)

Picea glauca; white spruce (medium-sized spruce of northeastern North America having short blue-green leaves and slender cones)

black spruce; Picea mariana; spruce pine (small spruce of boggy areas of northeastern North America having spreading branches with dense foliage; inferior wood)

Picea obovata; Siberian spruce (tall spruce of northern Europe and Asia; resembles Norway spruce)

Picea sitchensis; Sitka spruce (a large spruce that grows only along the northwestern coast of the United States and Canada; has sharp stiff needles and thin bark; the wood has a high ratio of strength to weight)

oriental spruce; Picea orientalis (evergreen tree of the Caucasus and Asia Minor used as an ornamental having pendulous branchlets)

Colorado blue spruce; Colorado spruce; Picea pungens; silver spruce (tall spruce with blue-green needles and dense conic crown; older trees become columnar with lower branches sweeping downward)

eastern spruce; Picea rubens; red spruce; yellow spruce (medium-sized spruce of eastern North America; chief lumber spruce of the area; source of pulpwood)

Holonyms ("spruce" is a member of...):

genus Picea; Picea (a genus of temperate and Arctic evergreen trees (see spruce))

• SPRUCE (adjective)

Comparative: sprucer   
Superlative: sprucest   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Marked by up-to-dateness in dress and manners

Synonyms:

dapper; dashing; jaunty; natty; raffish; rakish; snappy; spiffy; spruce

Context example:

a jaunty red hat

Similar:

fashionable; stylish (being or in accordance with current social fashions)

Derivation:

spruceness (the state of being neat and smart and trim)

• SPRUCE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they spruce    ... he / she / it spruces   
Past simple: spruced   
Past participle: spruced   
-ing form: sprucing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Make neat, smart, or trim

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

slick up; smarten up; spiff up; spruce; spruce up; titivate; tittivate

Context example:

titivate the child

Hypernyms (to "spruce" is one way to...):

beautify; embellish; fancify; prettify (make more beautiful)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

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

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Synonyms:

slick up; smarten up; spruce; spruce up

Context example:

He spruced up for the party

Hypernyms (to "spruce" is one way to...):

groom; neaten (care for one's external appearance)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s somebody

 Context examples 

Twenty feet away towered a huge dead spruce.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

His dress was simple and yet spruce.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

They arrived, the carriage turned, the step was let down, and Mr. Elton, spruce, black, and smiling, was with them instantly.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

The hares are effectively pushing spruce trees into unfavorable habitats.

(Race across the tundra: White spruce vs. snowshoe hare, National Science Foundation)

First, spruce trees were cut down and a three-room cabin constructed.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

They were not unlike birds, altogether; having a sharp, brisk, sudden manner, and a little short, spruce way of adjusting themselves, like canaries.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

The essential oil extracted from the needles and twigs of the black spruce, Picea mariana.

(Picea mariana Leaf Oil, NCI Thesaurus)

For, instead of a long train with royal diadems, I saw in one family two fiddlers, three spruce courtiers, and an Italian prelate.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Everything was spruce and neat in the cottage: on the table was spread a white cloth, and there were seven little plates, seven little loaves, and seven little glasses with wine in them; and seven knives and forks laid in order; and by the wall stood seven little beds.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

They were running along a narrow alley flanked on either side by a growth of young spruce.

(White Fang, by Jack London)