From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishsprucespruce1 /spruːs/ noun [countable, uncountable] HBPTAFa tree that grows in northern countries and has short leaves shaped like needles
Examples from the Corpus
spruce• A further factor complicating the story is the trend towards monoculture of timber trees such as spruce.• Even that blend is offset by the nearly black green of the higher, distant spruces.• They'd passed beyond the deciduous woods, and the trees on either side were conifers - larch, spruce and pine.• There were shapes of spruces rising to constrict a sky full of great cold stars.• A lot of what exists in these woods can not be seen from my red spruce.• The red spruce and Fraser fir began to recolonize the cut-over areas.sprucespruce2 verb → spruce up→ See Verb tableExamples from the Corpus
spruce• He needed his wife's presence to spruce him up and to take both him and the cottage in hand.• She'd come creeping back again, complaining about Dad's crumpled collars and his scuffed shoes, sprucing him up.• Interiors are sprucing up in green, as well.• It also makes specialty parts and accessories, which can be used to spruce up the performance and appearance of existing automobiles.• Towns along the route are sprucing up their downtowns.• Leaning over the parapet to watch the young bloods in the river sprucing up their horses for the fair.• Clean, well-maintained, the downtown spruced up with trees and brick sidewalks and crosswalks.sprucespruce3 adjective British English SMART/WELL-DRESSEDneat and clean Mr Bailey was looking very spruce in a white linen suit. —sprucely adverbExamples from the Corpus
spruce• The spruce branch fell to the floor and the ivy wound itself around her neck like some pagan wreath.• When the evening comes the female spruce budworm moth rises up on warm air currents.• Groves of old-growth lodge-pole pine and aging spruce fir exploded into flame like toothpicks be-fore a blowtorch.• The remote Sylvan Lake Lodge overlooks a striking man-made lake and spruce forest.• The fuselage was of welded steel tube, faired to an oval section, with spruce formers, and fabric covered.• He skirted the spruce plantation and supposed that at some point he should tell Sara about it.• It was surrounded by spruce trees and bougainvillaea, with a high bank leading up to the front door.• These and other shrubs were interspersed with small, scraggly larch and black spruce trees.Origin spruce1 (1600-1700) spruce fir “spruce”, from Spruce “Prussia”, former European country, now part of Germany ((14-17 centuries)) spruce2 [(1500-1600) From → SPRUCE3 spruce3 (1500-1600) Perhaps from Spruce leather “leather brought from Prussia” ((15-18 centuries)); → SPRUCE1 