Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Spruce

Spruce (sprṳs), n. [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.] 1. (Bot.) 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. The wood or timber of the spruce tree.

3. Prussia leather; pruce. [Obs.]

Spruce, a sort of leather corruptly so called for Prussia leather. E. Phillips.

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. [G. sprossenbier; sprosse sprout, shoot (akin to E. sprout, n.) + bier beer. The word was changed into spruce because the beer came from Prussia (OE. Spruce), or because it was made from the sprouts of the spruce. See Sprout, n., Beer, and cf. Spruce, n.] A kind of beer which is tinctured or flavored with spruce, either by means of the extract or by decoction. — Spruce grouse. (Zoöl.) Same as Spruce partridge, below. - - Spruce leather. See Spruce, n., 3. — Spruce partridge (Zoöl.), a handsome American grouse (Dendragapus Canadensis) found in Canada and the Northern United States; — called also Canada grouse.

Spruce, a. [Compar. Sprucer; superl. Sprucest] [Perhaps fr. spruce a sort of leather from Prussia, which was an article of finery. See Spruce, n.] 1. Neat, without elegance or dignity; — formerly applied to things with a serious meaning; now chiefly applied to persons. "Neat and spruce array." Remedy of Love.

2. Sprightly; dashing. [Obs.] "Now, my spruce companions." Shak.

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

Syn. — Finical; neat; trim. See Finical.

— Sruce′ly, adv. — Spruce′ness, n.

Spruce, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Spruced; p. pr. & vb. n. Sprucing.] To dress with affected neatness; to trim; to make spruce.

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

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.