spruce-up

[sproos-uhp] /ˈsprusˌʌp/

noun

an act of cleaning up, refurbishing, renovating, or the like.

Origin

noun use of verb phrase spruce up

spruce²

[sproos] /sprus/

adjective, sprucer, sprucest.

trim in dress or appearance; neat; smart; dapper.

verb (used with object), spruced, sprucing.

to make spruce or smart (often followed by up):

Spruce up the children before the company comes.

verb (used without object), spruced, sprucing.

to make oneself spruce (usually followed by up).

Origin

1580-90; obsolete spruce jerkin orig., jerkin made of spruce leather, i.e., leather imported from Prussia (see spruce¹), hence fine, smart, etc.

Related forms

sprucely, adverb

spruceness, noun

unspruced, adjective

British Dictionary definitions for spruce up

spruce up

verb

(adverb) to make (oneself, a person, or thing) smart and neat

spruce¹

/spruːs/

noun

any coniferous tree of the N temperate genus Picea, cultivated for timber and for ornament: family Pinaceae. They grow in a pyramidal shape and have needle-like leaves and light-coloured wood See also Norway spruce, blue spruce, white spruce, black spruce

the wood of any of these trees

Word Origin

C17: short for Spruce fir, from C14 Spruce Prussia, changed from Pruce, via Old French from Latin Prussia

spruce²

/spruːs/

adjective

neat, smart, and trim

Derived Forms

sprucely, adverb
spruceness, noun

Word Origin

C16: perhaps from Spruce leather a fashionable leather imported from Prussia; see spruce1

Word Origin and History for spruce up

spruce

"evergreen tree," 1660s, from spruse (adj.) "made of spruce wood" (early 15c.), literally "from Prussia," from Spruce, Sprws (late 14c.), unexplained alterations of Pruce "Prussia," from an Old French form of Prussia. Spruce seems to have been a generic term for commodities brought to England by Hanseatic merchants (beer, board, leather, see spruce (v.)), and the tree was believed to have come from Prussia.

1590s, from the adjective meaning "to make trim or neat," from spruce leather (mid-15c., see spruce (n.)), which was used to make a popular style of jerkins in the 1400s that was considered smart-looking.

Idioms and Phrases with spruce up

spruce up

Make neat and trim, as in She spruced up the chairs with new cushions. This idiom originated in the late 1500s as simply spruce but had acquired up by 1676.