spruce up

S s

Definitions of spruce up words

adjective spruce up trim in dress or appearance; neat; smart; dapper. 1
verb with object spruce up to make spruce or smart (often followed by up): Spruce up the children before the company comes. 1
verb without object spruce up to make oneself spruce (usually followed by up). 1
noun spruce up an act of cleaning up, refurbishing, renovating, or the like. 1
transitivephrasal verb spruce up smarten 1
phrasal verb spruce up If something is spruced up, its appearance is improved. If someone is spruced up, they have made themselves look very smart. 0

before 1580

One of the 35% oldest English words

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

noun

adjective

verb

adverb

pronoun

preposition

conjunction

determiner

exclamation

A common word. It’s meaning is known to most children of preschool age. About 88% of English native speakers know the meaning and use the word.

Most Europeans know this English word. The frequency of it’s usage is somewhere between "mom" and "screwdriver".

This diagram is provided by Google Ngram Viewer

adorn — If something adorns a place or an object, it makes it look more beautiful.
apparelled — clothing, especially outerwear; garments; attire; raiment.
arrange — If you arrange an event or meeting, you make plans for it to happen.
bedizen — to dress or decorate gaudily or tastelessly
beribboned — adorned with ribbons