▪ I. spruce, a. and adv.
(spruːs)
Also 6–7 spruse, 7 sprewse, 8–9 Sc. sprush.
[perh. from Spruce n. 1 b in the collocation spruce (leather) jerkin: cf. quot. 1609 in sense 2 b.]
† 1. Brisk, smart, lively. Obs.
In early quots. probably implying sense 2.
| 1589 R. Harvey Pl. Perc. 14 There steps me in a third tricksie, neat, nimble, spruse Artificer. 1598 E. Guilpin Skial. (1878) 21 Fine spruce young Pansa's growne a malcontent. 1606 Warner Alb. Eng. xvi. ci. (1612) 399 The sprewsest Citie-Lads for her would faine the Countrie-aire. 1691 Wood Ath. Oxon. II. 496 He was a person..of a quick, warm, spruce and gay-fancy. 1705 Hickeringill Priest-cr. ii. vii. 68 A Young Gentleman (of Spruce Natural Parts, and Ingenuous Disposition). |
| transf. 1634 Milton Comus 985 Along the crisped shades and bowres Revels the spruce and jocond Spring. 1642 H. More Song of Soul iv. x, Here Aristophanes Doth maken sport with some spruse Comedy. 1749 Chesterfield Lett. ccii. (1792) II. 265 A spruce, lively air, fashionable dress; and all the glitter that a young fellow should have. |
2. Trim, neat, dapper; smart in appearance:
a. Of persons, in respect of dress, etc. Also
transf.| α 1599 B. Jonson Ev. Man out of Hum. Charact. Persons, A Neat, spruce, affecting Courtier, one that weares clothes well, and in fashion. 1602 Breton Wonders Worth Hearing Wks. (Grosart) II. 12/2 These youths of the parish, that are so spruse in their apparell, haue little money in their purses. a 1680 Butler Rem. (1759) II. 111 He fancies himself a dainty spruce Shepherd, with a Flock and a fine silken Shepherdess, that follows his Pipe. 1718 Freethinker No. 29. 206 Notwithstanding the Gilt Chariot,..the spruce Figure within is but an Idol. 1796 F. Burney Camilla IV. 163 He'll make himself so spruce, he says, we sha'n't know him again. 1818 Creevey in C. Papers (1904) I. 279 He was singularly smug and spruce in his attire,..in new cloaths from top to bottom. 1876 T. Hardy Ethelberta I. 209 Making themselves as spruce as bridegrooms of a mild kind, according to the rules of their newly-acquired town experience. |
| β 1719 W. Hamilton Ep. ii. xii. in Ramsay's Poems, And then thou'd be sae far frae shabby, Thou'd look right sprush. a 1774 Fergusson On Seeing a Butterfly Poems (1845) 18 Kind Nature lent, but for a day, Her wings to mak ye sprush and gay. 1840 A. Laing Wayside Flowers (1878) 144 Mak' the bridegroom sprush and gay. |
b. Of apparel, appearance, etc.
| 1609 Dekker Gull's Horn-bk. Wks. (Grosart) II. 202 Euen he that iets vpon the neatest and sprucest leather..will be glad to fit themselues in Will Sommer his wardrob. 1653 W. Ramesey Astrol. Rest. 242 [They] shall endeavour to live neatly and in a comely spruce manner. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 49 ¶8 The spruce Nightcap of his Valet. 1755 Young Centaur ii. Wks. 1757 IV. 148 Your spruce appearance is a perfect forgery. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth viii, Altogether exhibiting an aspect..unlike the spruce and dapper importance of his ordinary appearance. 1853 C. Brontë Villette v, Her spruce attire flaunted an easy scorn to my plain garb. |
| Comb. 1602 2nd Pt. Return fr. Parnass. ii. v. 765 Wold it not gal a man to see a spruse gartered youth..be a broker for a liuing. |
c. Of places, buildings, etc.
| 1639 Fuller Holy War v. xxii. 267 Norway in that age the sprucest of the three kingdomes of Scandia, and best tricked up with shipping. 1642 ― Holy & Prof. St. ii. xxiii. 147 Commonly some new spruce town, not farre off, is grown out of the ashes thereof. 1682 Wheler Journ. Greece vi. 439 The Houses are more spruce here than ordinary. 1781 Hayley Triumphs Temper (1807) 30 Where spruce in motley pride, his villa stands. 1792 A. Young Trav. France 249 What would a Watson..or a Priestley say, upon a proposal to have their laboratories brushed out clean and spruce? 1856 Emerson Eng. Traits, Stonehenge Wks. (Bohn) II. 127 The Cathedral [of Salisbury], which was finished 600 years ago, has even a spruce and modern air. 1865 Dickens Mut. Fr. i. vi, Many a sprucer public-house. |
d. In miscellaneous uses.
| 1648 J. Beaumont Psyche vi. xciii, Of younger Serpents an intangled fry Thick in the sprucer Networks twisted were. 1657 G. Thornley Daphnis & Chloe 171 These were encompassed with a spruce, thin hedge. 1706 J. Philips Imit. Milton 121 Small need of art To form spruce architrave or cornice quaint. 1840 Dickens Old C. Shop xl, Kit rubbed down the pony and made him as spruce as a race⁓horse. 1863 Kinglake Crimea (1877) III. i. 248 The spruce beauty of the slender red line. |
e. Of immaterial things.
| 1602 Marston Ant. & Mel. Induct., He speakes with a spruce attick accent of adulterate Spanish. 1658 Sir T. Browne Hydriot. Ded., He that will illustrate the excellency of this order, may easily fail upon so spruce a Subject. 1687 Miége Gt. Fr. Dict. ii. s.v., A spruce Phrase, for a fine Phrase, une belle Phrase. 1822 Hazlitt Table T. xxvi, My sensations are all glossy, spruce, voluptuous, and fine. |
| Comb. 1721 Ramsay Answer to Burchet 22 When the pride of sprush-new words are laid. |
3. adv. = sprucely adv.| a 1618 J. Davies (Heref.) Wit's Pilgr. xci, Ile speake more spruce, yet call a Spade, a Spade. a 1796 Burns Tither Morn ii, His bonnet he, a thought ajee, Cock'd sprush when first he clasp'd me. 1824 Scott Redgauntlet ch. ix, Cock up your beaver, and cock it fu' sprush. |
▪ II. spruce, v.1 (
spruːs)
Also 7
spruse.
[f. prec.] 1. trans. To make spruce, trim, or neat.
| 1594 Nashe Terrors of Night To Rdr., You shal haue them..spend a whole twelue month in spunging & sprucing them. 1642 H. More Song of Soul i. ii. 39 Then gan the learn'd and ag'd Don Psittaco..To spruse his plumes, and wisdome sage to show. 1671 tr. Palafox's Conq. China iv. 90 To cut off their hair which the Chinese love..and take great care to spruce and perfume it. 1756 Gentl. Mag. XXVI. 444 Paid Lavender's man for sprucing my garden. 1772 Nugent Hist. Fr. Gerund I. 362 Our Friar Gerund was so..smugged, and spruced, that it was a delight to behold his face. |
| refl. 1637 Heywood Pleas. Dial. No. 4 Wks. 1874 VI. 191 Himselfe he spruceth, studieth to be fine. 1683 tr. Erasm. Moriae Encomium 44 Another shall spruce himself in a light periwig. 1703 Rules Civility 57 An old Man or Woman trimm'd up like young People of Eighteen, would make us believe they had spruc'd themselves so for no other end. 1903 J. Conrad & Hueffer Romance v. 40 He had spruced himself, but I seemed to see the rags still flutter about him. |
b. With
up.
| 1676 G. Etherege Man of Mode iii. iii, I took particular notice of one that is alwaies spruc'd up with a deal of dirty sky-colur'd Ribband. a 1704 T. Brown Lett. Ser. & Com. Wks. 1709 III. 126 Madam D―, whom you are so angry with for..sprucing up her decay'd Person. 1748 Lady Luxborough Lett. Shenstone 27 June, My slovenly garden, which cannot be weeded, nor in the least spruced up, till my hay is all in. 1853 Felton Fam. Lett. xlv. (1865) 336, I do not think you would have known my coat, hardly me, so spruced up were both of us. 1894 H. Nisbet Bush Girl's Rom. 135 When washed and spruced up they looked and talked not unlike gentlemen. |
| fig. 1672 Eachard Lett. 21 Out comes the Vindicationer, and spruces up this objection. |
| refl. 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. iii. ii. iv. i, Salmacis would not be seen of Hermaphroditus, till she had spruced up her self first. 1674 tr. Scheffer's Lapland 111 Woollen Cloth-Garments (such as they use to spruce themselves up withal, at their public Festivals, or more solemn affairs). 1749 Mrs. Delany Life & Corr. (1861) II. 532 Mrs. Foley's, where I was to spruce myself up a little before dinner. 1862 Sala Seven Sons II. v. 138 [She] spruced herself up to the extent of putting on..a black silk jacket. 1895 J. C. Snaith Mistress Dorothy Marvin xli, Go spruce yourself up a bit. |
† 2. intr. With
it: To be spruce or trim.
Obs. rare.
| 1611 Cotgr., Faire la fringue, to iet, brag, spruce it, wantonnize it. Ibid. s.v. Garber. |
3. With
up (or
† out): To make oneself spruce.
| 1709 Mrs. Manley Secret Mem. I. 176 His Father and grandfather are..profess'd Sparks, and spruce up in Cherry and other gaudy colour'd silk Stockings. 1746 Mrs. Delany Life & Corr. (1861) II. 443 We return home at two and spruce out, dinner at half an hour after two. 1833 [Seba Smith] Lett. J. Downing ii. (1835) 35 To-night we're goin to a quiltin at Uncle Josh's. Miss Willoby..is sprucin up for it. 1869 Mrs. Stowe Old Town xvii, All of a sudden, Dench..seemed to kind o' spruce up and have a deal o' money to spend. |
▪ III. spruce, v.2 slang (
orig. Mil.).
[Of unknown origin.] a. intr. To lie, practise deception; to evade a duty, malinger. Also with quasi-obj.
b. trans. To deceive.
| 1917 W. Muir Observ. Orderly xiv. 230 To spruce is to dodge duty or to deceive. A man who contrived to slip out of the ranks of a squad when they were performing some distasteful task would be said to ‘spruce off’. 1919 Athenæum 8 Aug. 728/1 Spruce, deceive. 1925 Fraser & Gibbons Soldier & Sailor Words 267 Spruce.., to lie. To deceive. 1951 A. Baron Rosie Hogarth 222 Write your own cheque. It's yours for the asking..Go on! I ain't sprucing. 1967 G. M. Wilson Cake for Caroline vi. 71 Dr. Meunier's no fool, he'd have known if she was sprucing..Malingering. Faking tummy trouble. 1969 H. Carvic Miss Seeton draws Line ix. 172 Them two old tarts at the Nut House, they spruced you proper. 1970 A. Hunter Gently with Innocents xiii. 166 The coin is damning. He can't spruce his way round that. 1978 Daily Tel. 26 May 16 A kipper..by inference, should cost more than the untreated fish. Who is sprucing whom? |
Hence
ˈsprucer, one who tells tall stories, a trickster.
| 1917 W. Muir Observ. Orderly xiv. 230 He would be denounced as a ‘sprucer’ if he managed to arrive late for his meal and yet, by a trick, to secure a front place in the waiting queue at the canteen. 1919 Athenæum 15 Aug. 759/1 ‘A sprucer’ is a man who tells tall stories. A man who is ‘ticked off’ for wrong doing by his officer may escape further punishment by ‘sprucing him up a yarn’. 1930 P. MacDonald Link ix. 194 This is where the G.D. begins to show up for the sprucer that he is. 1968 Listener 25 Jan. 111/2, I suspect Peter Eckersley was pulling Cutforth's leg. He was a good ‘sprucer’, as they used to say in Swadlincote. |