SPRUCE, adjective Nice; trim; neat without elegance or dignity; formerly applied to things with a serious meaning; now applied to persons only. He is so spruce that he never can be genteel. SPRUCE, verb transitive To trim; to dress with great neatness. SPRUCE, verb intransitive To dress ones self with affected neatness. SPRUCE, noun The fir-tree; a name given to a species of evergreen, the Pinus nigra, which is used in families to give flavor to beer. It is used by way of decoction, or in the essence.
Source: Webster's 1828 American Dictionary ↗ · public-domain · returned verbatim, no AI