英语词汇“spruce”的英英意思、用法、释义、翻译、读音、例句、短语、词组-英语词典

spruce1

/spruːs

noun

A widespread coniferous tree which has a distinctive conical shape and hanging cones, widely grown for timber, pulp, and Christmas trees.

Genus Picea, family Pinaceae: many species.

The best trees to plant with wildlife in mind are cherry and mulberry for their fruits, pines and spruces for their seed-bearing cones and deciduous trees that vary in size and density....

This nest is usually in a spruce or other conifer and may be 4'40 feet up.
‘I wanted my husband to plant a big spruce so that at Christmas I could decorate it with lights,’ she says.

Origin

Late Middle English (denoting Prussia or something originating in Prussia): alteration of obsolete Pruce 'Prussia'. The application to the tree dates from the early 17th century.

Prussia was a former kingdom that covered much of modern northeast Germany and Poland. Between the 14th and 17th centuries it was also known in English as both Pruce and Spruce, and these words could also be used to mean ‘Prussian’. Spruce was in time used as the name of a type of fir tree grown in Prussia. It was also used in the phrase spruce leather, a fashionable type of leather imported in the 16th century from Prussia and used especially for jerkins. It is probably from this that the sense ‘neat or smart in dress or appearance’ developed.

Rhymes

spruce2

/spruːs

adjective

Neat in dress and appearance: Angela was a very spruce and tidy person...

In outward appearance, he was a cherubically round man, about 45, in a spruce pinstripe suit and a new blue tie.
To turn up at County Hall looking dapper and spruce would have been to strike a false, jarring note of misplaced optimism.
The place has also recently been restored and so is looking quite spruce.

Synonyms

neat, well groomed, well turned out, well dressed, besuited, smart, trim, dapper, elegant, chic;

French soigné

informal natty, snazzy

North American informal spiffy

dated as if one had just stepped out of a bandbox

archaic trig

verb [with object] (spruce someone/thing up)

Make someone or something smarter or tidier: the fund will be used to spruce up historic buildings...

The existing factory buildings have been spruced up to house exhibition, workshop and office spaces.
A further £200,000 will be spent sprucing up the city's war memorials and a plaque will be put up by the Cenotaph - listing, for the first time, soldiers killed on active duty since the Second World War.
The council has adopted a 12-month strategy aimed at sprucing up the city's streets.

Synonyms

smarten up, make smarter, tidy up, make tidy, make neater, neaten up, put in order, clean up

informal do up

British informal tart up, posh up

North American informal gussy up

groom oneself, tidy oneself, smarten oneself up, freshen oneself up, preen oneself, primp oneself, prink oneself, pretty oneself, beautify oneself;

British have a wash and brush-up

informal titivate oneself, doll oneself up

British informal tart oneself up

archaic plume oneself, trig oneself

Derivatives

sprucely

/ˈspruːsli/ adverb ...

The boys were sprucely dressed in the customary costume of shirt, breeches, stockings and shiny black shoes.
He is dressed sprucely, except for his rubber overshoes, evidences of the chill, watery Parisian spring.
At a glance one would have described them as middle-class and lower middle-class men with their wives and children sprucely dressed in their Sunday best.

spruceness

/ˈspruːsnəs/ noun ...

But then Adam is a theatrical impresario, and dresses with all the dapper spruceness of a, well, theatrical impresario.

Origin

Late 16th century: perhaps from spruce¹ in the obsolete sense 'Prussian', in the phrase spruce (leather) jerkin.

spruce3

/spruːs

verb [no object] British informal, dated

1Engage in pretence or deception, especially by feigning illness: he’s no fool; he’d have known if she was sprucing

1.1 [with object] Deceive: they spruced you proper

Derivatives

sprucer

noun

Origin

Early 20th century: of unknown origin.

单词	spruce
释义	spruce1 /spruːs / noun A widespread coniferous tree which has a distinctive conical shape and hanging cones, widely grown for timber, pulp, and Christmas trees. Genus Picea, family Pinaceae: many species. The best trees to plant with wildlife in mind are cherry and mulberry for their fruits, pines and spruces for their seed-bearing cones and deciduous trees that vary in size and density.... This nest is usually in a spruce or other conifer and may be 4'40 feet up. ‘I wanted my husband to plant a big spruce so that at Christmas I could decorate it with lights,’ she says. Origin Late Middle English (denoting Prussia or something originating in Prussia): alteration of obsolete Pruce 'Prussia'. The application to the tree dates from the early 17th century. Prussia was a former kingdom that covered much of modern northeast Germany and Poland. Between the 14th and 17th centuries it was also known in English as both Pruce and Spruce, and these words could also be used to mean ‘Prussian’. Spruce was in time used as the name of a type of fir tree grown in Prussia. It was also used in the phrase spruce leather, a fashionable type of leather imported in the 16th century from Prussia and used especially for jerkins. It is probably from this that the sense ‘neat or smart in dress or appearance’ developed. Rhymes abstruse, abuse, adduce, Ballets Russes, Belarus, Bruce, burnous, caboose, charlotte russe, conduce, deduce, deuce, diffuse, douce, educe, excuse, goose, induce, introduce, juice, Larousse, loose, luce, misuse, moose, mousse, noose, obtuse, Palouse, produce, profuse, puce, recluse, reduce, Rousse, seduce, sluice, Sousse, traduce, truce, use, vamoose, Zeus spruce2 /spruːs / adjective Neat in dress and appearance: Angela was a very spruce and tidy person... In outward appearance, he was a cherubically round man, about 45, in a spruce pinstripe suit and a new blue tie. To turn up at County Hall looking dapper and spruce would have been to strike a false, jarring note of misplaced optimism. The place has also recently been restored and so is looking quite spruce. Synonyms neat, well groomed, well turned out, well dressed, besuited, smart, trim, dapper, elegant, chic; French soigné informal natty, snazzy North American informal spiffy dated as if one had just stepped out of a bandbox archaic trig verb [with object] (spruce someone/thing up) Make someone or something smarter or tidier: the fund will be used to spruce up historic buildings... The existing factory buildings have been spruced up to house exhibition, workshop and office spaces. A further £200,000 will be spent sprucing up the city's war memorials and a plaque will be put up by the Cenotaph - listing, for the first time, soldiers killed on active duty since the Second World War. The council has adopted a 12-month strategy aimed at sprucing up the city's streets. Synonyms smarten up, make smarter, tidy up, make tidy, make neater, neaten up, put in order, clean up informal do up British informal tart up, posh up North American informal gussy up groom oneself, tidy oneself, smarten oneself up, freshen oneself up, preen oneself, primp oneself, prink oneself, pretty oneself, beautify oneself; British have a wash and brush-up informal titivate oneself, doll oneself up British informal tart oneself up archaic plume oneself, trig oneself Derivatives sprucely /ˈspruːsli/ adverb ... The boys were sprucely dressed in the customary costume of shirt, breeches, stockings and shiny black shoes. He is dressed sprucely, except for his rubber overshoes, evidences of the chill, watery Parisian spring. At a glance one would have described them as middle-class and lower middle-class men with their wives and children sprucely dressed in their Sunday best. spruceness /ˈspruːsnəs/ noun ... But then Adam is a theatrical impresario, and dresses with all the dapper spruceness of a, well, theatrical impresario. Origin Late 16th century: perhaps from spruce¹ in the obsolete sense 'Prussian', in the phrase spruce (leather) jerkin. spruce3 /spruːs / verb [no object] British informal, dated 1Engage in pretence or deception, especially by feigning illness: he’s no fool; he’d have known if she was sprucing 1.1 [with object] Deceive: they spruced you proper Derivatives sprucer noun Origin Early 20th century: of unknown origin.
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