Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Spruce |
SpruceAdjective1. Marked by smartness in dress and manners; "a dapper young man"; "a jaunty red hat". Noun1. Light soft moderately strong wood of spruce trees; used especially for timbers and millwork. 2. Any coniferous tree of the genus Picea. Verb1. Make neat, smart, or trim; "Spruce up your house for Spring". 2. Dress and groom with particular care, as for a special occasion; "He spruced up for the party". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "spruce" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1350. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
European Union | Beverage made from leaves or small branches of the spruce fir or from spruce essence. Source: European Union. (references) |
Food & Agriculture | Any coniferous tree of the genus Picea, with dense foliage growing in a distinctive conical shape. Source: European Union. (references) |
Literature | Spruce Smart, dandified. Hall tells us it is a contraction of Prussian-like, à la Prusse, and gives the subjoined quotation:- "After them came $$$ Edward Hayward, and with him Sir Thomas Parre, in doublets of crimson velvet, faced on the breast with chains of silver, and over that short cloaks of crimson satin, and on their heads hats after dancers' fashion, with feathers in them. They were apparelled after the fashion of Prussia or Spruce." In confirmation of this it may be mentioned that "Spruce leather" is certainly a corruption of Prussian leather; Spruce-beer is beer made from the Spruce or $$$ and Danzig, in Prussia, is famous for the beverage. Source: Brewer's Dictionary. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Shoot of Norway Spruce (Picea abies)Spruce refers to trees of the Genus Picea, coniferous evergreens in the Family Pinaceae and found in the northern temperate and boreal regions of the earth. Spruce trees can be distinguished by their whorled branches and pyramidal form. The needles, or leaves, of spruce trees are attached singly to the branches in a spiral fashion.
Spruce wood is used for many purposes, ranging from musical instruments to lumber for construction.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Spruce."
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Spruce is a town located in Oconto County, Wisconsin. As of the 2000 census, the town had a total population of 871.Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 92.5 km² (35.7 mi²). 91.1 km² (35.2 mi²) of it is land and 1.4 km² (0.6 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 1.54% water.Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there are 871 people, 349 households, and 254 families residing in the town. The population density is 9.6/km² (24.8/mi²). There are 587 housing units at an average density of 6.4/km² (16.7/mi²). The racial makeup of the town is 95.52% White, 0.00% African American, 1.26% Native American, 0.92% Asian, 0.00% Pacific Islander, 0.34% from other races, and 1.95% from two or more races. 1.61% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race. There are 349 households out of which 31.5% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 61.9% are married couples living together, 6.3% have a female householder with no husband present, and 27.2% are non-families. 23.2% of all households are made up of individuals and 12.0% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.50 and the average family size is 2.93. In the town the population is spread out with 25.1% under the age of 18, 5.7% from 18 to 24, 27.3% from 25 to 44, 21.2% from 45 to 64, and 20.6% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 40 years. For every 100 females there are 101.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 101.9 males. The median income for a household in the town is $35,658, and the median income for a family is $43,125. Males have a median income of $29,444 versus $21,250 for females. The per capita income for the town is $18,759. 6.5% of the population and 3.5% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total people living in poverty, 7.7% are under the age of 18 and 6.2% are 65 or older.Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Spruce, Wisconsin."
Synonyms: SpruceSynonyms: dapper (adj), dashing (adj), jaunty (adj), natty (adj), raffish (adj), rakish (adj), smart (adj), snappy (adj), slick up (v), smarten up (v), spiff up (v), spruce up (v), titivate (v), tittivate (v). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Beauty | Goodly, dapper, tight, jimp; gimp; janty, jaunty; trig, natty, quaint, trim, tidy,neat, spruce, smart, tricksy. |
Cleanness | Neat, spruce, tidy, trim, gimp, clean as a new penny, like a cat in pattens; cleaned; Verb: kempt. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
| Domain | Usage | |
Movie/TV Titles | The Spruce Bog: An Essay in Ecology (1957) King Spruce (1920) War Spruce (1919) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books | |||
Theater & Movies | |||
Music |
| ||
Consumer Goods | |||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Three year old windbreak and snow fence catching snow. Blue spruce and cottoneaster in 2 rows. Dubois, Wyoming. Credit: Jeff Vanuga. |  | Field windbreak of blue spruce, elm and green ash. Credit: Unknown. |
 | Tree at Spruce Reach Island. Credit: J. Brende. |  | Frog on toadstool at Spruce Reach Island. Credit: C. Garland. |
 | Black Spruce Forest. Credit: Alaska Image Library. |  | Spruce Grouse. Credit: Alaska Image Library. |
 | Lithograph by N. Currier, 2 Spruce St., New York, 1846, depicting the ship under sail. Credit: NAVY. |  | Colored lithograph published by N. Currier, 2 Spruce Street, New York City, 1845. Credit: NAVY. |
 | Spruce Tree House, Mesa Verde, Colorado. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Pennsylvania Railroad. Spruce Creek Tunnel, two hundred and fifteen miles from Philadelphia. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
 |  |
| "Spruce tree" by Radek Siechowicz Commentary: "Morning shot, after rain." | "Needles" by Per Hardestam Commentary: "A sprig of spruce on a white table." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. | |
| Play | Caption |
 | Hair dryer; hair blower; blower; blow; dryer; dry; fan; heat; primp; deck out; doll up; dress up; fix up; groom; gussy up; preen; prepare; prink; slick; smarten; spiff; spruce; titivate. |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Title | Author | Quote |
Emma | Austen, Jane | They arrived, the carriage turned, the step was let down, and Mr. Elton, spruce, black, and smiling, was with them instantly |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | A spruce little bird, probably in love, was singing desperately in a tall tree |
Gulliver's Travels | Swift, Jonathan | For instead of a long train with royal diadems, I saw in one family two fiddlers, three spruce courtiers, and an Italian prelate |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Economic History | Netherlands | The Dutch market for U.S. softwoods remains small, as the Netherlands still is a traditional user of spruce rather than U.S. southern yellow pine. (references) |
Greece | Forestry product imports reached approximately $520 million in 2000. The main wood types imported into Greece are hardwoods such as tropical timber, oak, ash, beech and softwoods such as douglas fir, SYP, spruce, redwood, pine and tropical timber. (references) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Spruce" is generally used as a noun (proper) -- approximately 44.08% of the time. "Spruce" is used about 211 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (proper) | 44.08% | 93 | 34,067 |
| Noun (singular) | 38.39% | 81 | 36,835 |
| Lexical Verb (infinitive) | 9% | 19 | 80,337 |
| Lexical Verb (base form) | 7.58% | 16 | 87,710 |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 0.95% | 2 | 245,945 |
| Total | 100.00% | 211 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following table summarizes the usage of "spruce" based on a population census conducted in the United States. Ranks and frequencies are based on all names reported and classified. |
| Name | Usage/Gender | Usage per 100 million Persons | Rank in USA |
| Spruce | Last name | 170 | 49,262 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits. | |||
1. Spruce, MI |
Expressions using "spruce": black spruce ♦ blue spruce ♦ Brewer's spruce ♦ colorado blue spruce ♦ colorado spruce ♦ Douglas spruce ♦ eastern spruce ♦ Engelmann spruce ♦ Engelmann's spruce ♦ Essence of spruce ♦ hemlock spruce ♦ Himalayan spruce ♦ Indian spruce ♦ Norway spruce ♦ oriental spruce ♦ red spruce ♦ siberian spruce ♦ silver spruce ♦ spruce beer ♦ Spruce Creek ♦ spruce fir ♦ spruce gall aphid ♦ spruce grouse ♦ Spruce Head ♦ Spruce leather ♦ spruce oneself ♦ spruce oneself up ♦ Spruce partridge ♦ spruce pine ♦ spruce squirrel ♦ spruce up ♦ weeping spruce ♦ white spruce ♦ yellow spruce. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "spruce": spruce-beer, spruce-green, spruce-trees, spruce-up. | |
Containing "spruce": Samsula-Spruce Creek. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day | Expression | Frequency per Day |
spruce | 305 | lake spruce | 29 |
spruce goose | 287 | sitka spruce | 28 |
spruce meadow | 262 | spruce creek | 28 |
aircraft spruce | 203 | norway spruce weeping | 28 |
spruce pine north carolina | 138 | camp grady spruce | 27 |
blue spruce | 135 | run spruce | 27 |
spruce tree | 132 | serbian spruce | 27 |
alberta dwarf spruce | 90 | spruce creek high school | 27 |
colorado blue spruce | 80 | spruce pine | 24 |
blue spruce tree | 69 | bud spruce worm | 21 |
alberta spruce | 67 | colorado spruce | 21 |
norway spruce | 66 | spruce knob | 20 |
spruce grove | 60 | examiner grove spruce | 20 |
white spruce | 48 | bird nest spruce | 18 |
spruce point inn | 39 | oak n spruce resort | 18 |
spruce mi | 38 | spruce up | 17 |
city grove spruce | 35 | dvdmaestro spruce | 17 |
black hills spruce | 35 | dvd maestro spruce | 17 |
spruce grove alberta | 34 | spruce wood | 17 |
aircraft spruce and specialty | 33 | budworm spruce | 17 |
disease spruce tree | 17 | ||
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Translations for "spruce"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Afrikaans | denneboom (fir, spruce-fir). (various references) | |
Albanian | Stolisem, Rregulloj (accommodate, adjust, amend, arrange, attemper, clear up, compose, contrive, control, correct, debug, dispose, dispose of, do, fix up, model, modulate, order, patch up, rate, readjust, redress, regularize, regulate, repair, set right, set the tune, settle, shape, straighten, tidy up, trim), Pispillos (dandify, doll up, prettify, titivate), Krëk (natty, spick and span), Elegant (chic, courtly, dainty, dashing, elegant, exquisite, fashionable, gallant, genteel, high-toned, modish, nifty, Nobby, silk stocking, stylish, trig, willowy), Bredh (divagate, fir, fir tree, gallivant, loiter, ramble, roam, wander). (various references) | |
Arabic | مهندم (neat, tidy, well groomed), نقي (fresh, lucid, neat, perspicuous, pure, refined, sweet), نظيف (clean, cleanly, fair, immaculate, neat, sanitary, spotless, stainless, taut, tidy), تهندم, تأنق (doll up, dude oneself up, elegance, flourish, mannerism, preen, smarten, spruce oneself, stylishness, swank, titivate, titivation), صنوبرية (conifer), أنيق (bijou, chic, classy, coxcomb, dainty, dapper, dashing, dinky, dressy, elegant, exclusive, fine, gallant, genteel, good looking, gracious, jaunty, ladylike, mincing, natty, neat, nice, perky, personable, posh, presentable, rich, saucy, seemly, sharp, smart, smug, sophisticated, spick and span, sporting, sportsmanlike, sporty, stylish, suave, swagger, swell, tailor made, taut, tidy, tight, trim, well groomed), شجرة الراتينج. (various references) | |
Bulgarian | Придавам Стегнат Вид На, Напет, Издокаран, Стегнат, Смърч, Спретнат. (various references) | |
Chinese | 云杉. (various references) | |
Czech | Upravený (dapper, jimp, smart, tidy, trim), Fešný (trig), Elegantní (becoming, ciceronian, dapper, dashing, dressy, elegant, fashionable, full-fashioned, glamorous, glamourous, graceful, light-some, natty, neat, sleek, smart, snappy, sophisticated, swanky, swell, trim). (various references) | |
Danish | gran (spruce-fir). (various references) | |
Dutch | Spar (fir, spruce-fir). (various references) | |
Faeroese | grann (fir, spruce-fir). (various references) | |
Farsi | پاکیزه (Brisk, Clean, Natty, Neat, Sprucy, Tidy, Trim), قشنگ (Beauteous, Beautiful, Cheesy, Pert, Pretty, Sprucy), صنوبر (Pine, Pinon), اراسته (Brisk, Decent, Decorous, Natty, Politic, Prissy, Sprucy). (various references) | |
Finnish | kuusi (fir, six). (various references) | |
French | épicéa (spruce-fir). (various references) | |
Frisian | spjirrebeam (fir, spruce-fir), spjir (fir, spruce-fir). (various references) | |
German | Fichte (fir, pine), Tanne (fir, pine, spruce-fir). (various references) | |
Greek | spruce, έλατο (fir, spruce fir, tractability, tractility), μαύρη μπύρα, Ελάτη, φιλάρεσκος (coquettish, dapper, flirtatious), ερυθροέλατο, ελάτη (fir), Τσαμί, ίομψόσ (Nobby), Περιποιούμαι. (various references) | |
Hebrew | ־צוחצח, ּהתהדר, ּהתגנדר. (various references) | |
Hungarian | Takaros (dapper, dinky, natty, neat, picked, proper, tidy, tricksy, trig, trim), lucfenyő (european larch), Csinos (bonnie, bonny, compt, crackajack, crackerjack, crummy, cunning, cute, dolly, easy on the eye, easy to look at, foxy, good looking, handsome, have good looks, natty, neat, nice-looking, nifty, personable, pretty, proper, seemly, she's got it, sightly, tidy, tight, tricksy, trig). (various references) | |
Italian | Abete Rosso. (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | きりきり舞い (a whirl, awkward, awkwardness, clumsy, constrained, corrugated, crude, going round and round, jagged, jerkiness, mashed sweet potato, milled, neat, notched, rushing a person off his feet, serrated, shrill, smart, stiff, stiff-mannered, stiltedness, strained atmosphere, thin and bony, unrefined). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | きりっとした (neat, smart). (various references) | |
Manx | skeoighey, skeoigh (neat, snug, tidy), juys Loghlinagh (Norway pine), jannoo skeoigh (tidy). (various references) | |
Mohawk | o'sora (spruce tree). (various references) | |
Norwegian | gran (fir, spruce-fir). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | ucespray.(various references) | |
Portuguese | spruce, limpo (clean, clean-handed, cleanly, cleanly cut, cloudless, neat, net, orderly, precise, sanitary, spotless, straight, tidy, trim, unspotted, unstained, unsullied, well-done), elegante (attic, beau, brave, braw, cheesy, chic, dainty, dandy, dapper, dink, dinky, elegant, fashionable, feat, fetching, flossy, gentlemanly, graceful, handsome, informed, jimp, knowing, ladylike, light, natty, neat, nifty, nobby, pasta, polished, polite, posh, silk stocking, slim, smart, spicy, stylish, tasteful, tasty, tony, trig, trim), cerveja preta, bem vestido (braw, silk stocking, trig, trim, well-dressed), asseado (clean, dapper, neat, silk stocking, tidy, trim, well-done), arrumado (neat, straight, tidy, well-done), abeto (fir). (various references) | |
Romanian | Spilcui (dress up), Se Spilcui, Se Gãti (array, doll, mum, perk up, prank, preen, prink oneself up), Se Ferchezui, Se Dichisi (doll), Pãcãli (cheat, deceive, diddle, do, dupe, fool, gammon, get, gull, hoax, hocus, hornswoggle, kid, let in, lime, nobble, outflank, outsmart, outwit, sell, stuff, trick, trump, twist), Gãti (attire, caparison, cook, doll, dress, end, fig out, prank, preen, prepare, rig, trim), Dichisit (dapper, dolled up, swagger, swell, trimmed), Dichisi (adorn, arrange, dress up, smarten up, trim), Cã Scos Din Cutie (swagger), Îngrijit, Înşela (Fox), Împopoţona. (various references) | |
Russian | элегантный , Наряжаться, нарядный (dinky, natty, nutty, spick and span, trig), Ель, ель хвойный , аккуратный (accurate, exact, meticulous, natty, neat, on time, orderly, precise, prim, prompt, punctual, tidy, trim), Щеголеватый, Хвойное Дерево. (various references) | |
Scottish | spruiseil. (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | smreka (juniper), omorika, omorični, nalickati (prettify), doterati (adjust, drive, furbish, lick into shape, nidge, polish, regulate, smarten, straighten out, touch up), doteran (groomed, polished, sleek, straight out, tricksy, trig, trim, trimmed, well groomed). (various references) | |
Spanish | spruce-beer, Pulcro (dapper, neat, sleek, smart, soigne, tidy, trim), Picea, pícea, cerveza negra (dark beer, porter), cerveza de pruche, Aseado (clean, cleanly, orderly, smart, tidy, trim), Acicalado (natty, neat, smart, soigne, trig, well groomed), abeto (fir). (various references) | |
Swedish | gran (branch, deal, fir, fir tree, grain, spruce-fir), prydlig (dainty, dapper, dinky, natty, neat, smart, tidy, trim, well groomed), göra fin. (various references) | |
Turkish | Temiz (chaste, clean, clean-handed, cleanly, clear, fair, fairly, fresh, kosher, neat, neatly, pure, respectable, sanitary, tidy, unpolluted, unsoiled, unspotted, unstained), Ladin (spruce fir), Düzgün (clear-cut, Dandy, dandyish, fluent, formal, in good trim, ordered, regular, right, shapely, shipshape, slick, smooth, Square, straight, trim, unruffled), Düzeltmek (adjust, ameliorate, amend, arrange, better, clean up, correct, dub, emend, face-lift, fix, grade, grade up, haul up, heal, improve, justify, level, level off, level out, meliorate, mend, plane, planish, polish, polish up, reclaim, rectify, redress, refine, reform, regenerate, remedy, reorganize, right, set aright, slick, smooth, smooth away, smooth down, smooth out, smooth over, spruce up, Square, straighten, straighten out, tidy up, trim, try out, unbend, unscramble, upgrade), Þık (Dandy, Nobby), Alaçam (cluster pine, spruce fir), Çeki Düzen Vermek. (various references) | |
Ukrainian | ялина (fir), чепуристий, чепуритися (preen oneself), чистенький, Наводити Блиск, Хвойне Дерево. (various references) | |
Vietnamese | diêm dúa, chải chuốt (gallant), bảnh bao (crisp, dandyish, dashing, smart, stylish, swell). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | abies, abies spp, abietem, abietes, abietibus, Picea Dietr.spec., piceis, thersa. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "spruce": spruced, sprucely, spruceness, sprucenesses, sprucer, spruces, sprucest. (additional references) | |
| |
"Spruce" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: apprnce, Pruce, Sarice, Saruca, spouce, sprich, Sproule, sprucge, spruge, sprute, spruve. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "spruce" (pronounced spruw"s) |
| 3 | -r uw" s | abstruse, truce. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "c-e-p-r-s-u" | |
-1 letter: cruse, cures, curse, ecrus, puces, purse, sprue, sucre, super. | |
-2 letters: ceps, crus, cues, cups, cure, curs, cusp, ecru, ecus, pecs, puce, pure, purs, recs, reps, rues, ruse, scup, spec, spue, spur, suer, supe, sure, user. | |
-3 letters: cep, cue, cup, cur, ecu, ers, pec, per, pes, pur, pus, rec, rep, res, rue, sec, ser. | |
| Words containing the letters "c-e-p-r-s-u" | |
+1 letter: apercus, croupes, cuppers, percuss, precuts, puckers, recoups, scauper, screwup, scruple, scupper, spruced, sprucer, spruces. | |
+2 letters: captures, corpuses, couplers, coverups, crumpets, crumples, cruppers, cupelers, cupreous, cuprites, cutpurse, cypruses, epicures, pictures, piecrust, pluckers, pouncers, precious, precures, prefocus, prepuces, procures, produces, pumicers, punchers, purchase, resculpt, scaupers, screwups, scrupled, scruples, scuppers, spectrum, specular, sprucely, sprucest, sprucier, supercar, supercop, surplice, upcurves. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Images: Digital Art | 9. Sounds 10. Quotations: Fiction 11. Quotations: Non-fiction 12. Usage Frequency | 13. Names: Frequency 14. Cities 15. Expressions 16. Expressions: Internet | 17. Translations: Modern 18. Translations: Ancient 19. Derivations 20. Rhymes | 21. Anagrams 22. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
