SPRUCE

Pronunciation (US):

• 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.

• SPRUCE (noun)

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)

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"):

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

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

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)

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

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

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

Engelmann spruce; Engelmann's 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)

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

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)

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)

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

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

• SPRUCE (adjective)

Meaning:

Marked by up-to-dateness in dress and manners

Synonyms:

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

Context examples:

a dapper young man / a jaunty red hat

Similar:

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

• SPRUCE (verb)

Meaning:

Make neat, smart, or trim

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

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

Context examples:

Spruce up your house for Spring / 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

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