spruce

• vi. 打扮整齊；使顯幹淨
• adj. 整潔的
• vt. 打扮整齊
• n. 雲杉

來自 Spruce,拚寫變體自 Pruce,普魯士，歐洲曆史地名，德意誌境內最強大的邦國，後統一了 德意誌。該樹因從普魯士進口到英國而得名，是製作家具的優質木材，也是奢華的代名詞。 因此，引申詞義裝飾，打扮。

spruce

spruce: Spruce ‘neat’ [16] and spruce the tree [17] are completely different words, of course, but they could have a common origin – in Spruce, the old English name for Prussia. Spruce the tree was originally the spruce fir, literally the ‘Prussian fir’. And it is thought that the adjective spruce may have come from the expression spruce leather ‘Prussian leather’, which denoted a particularly fine sort of leather, used for making jackets. The word itself is an unexplained alteration of Pruce ‘Prussia’, which was acquired via Old French from medieval Latin Prussia.
=> prussia

spruce (n.)

1660s, "evergreen tree, fir," 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 (especially beer, boards and wooden chests, and leather), and the tree thus was believed to be particular to Prussia, which for a time was figurative in England as a land of luxuries. Compare spruce (adj.).

As a distinct species of evergreen tree from 1731. Nearly all pines have long, soft needles growing in groups of two (Scotch) to five (white); spruce and fir needles grow singly. Spruce needles are squarish and sharp; fir needles are short and flat. Cones of the fir stand upright; cones of a spruce hang before falling.

spruce (v.)

"to make trim or neat," 1590s, from spruce (adj.). Related: Spruced; sprucing.

spruce (adj.)

"neat, smart in dress and appearance, dapper, brisk," 1580s, from spruce leather (mid-15c.; see spruce (n.)), a type of leather imported from Prussia in the 1400s and 1500s which was used in England to make a popular style of jerkin that was considered smart-looking.

1. Early settlers built frames of spruce, maple and pine.

早期的定居者用雲杉木、楓木和鬆木建造屋架。

來自柯林斯例句

2. It was made of soft lumber, spruce by the look of it.

其製作材料是軟木，看起來像是雲杉。

來自柯林斯例句

3. He looked spruce in his best clothes.

他穿了最漂亮的衣裳,看來很神氣.

來自《簡明英漢詞典》

4. Chris was looking spruce in his stiff-collared black shirt and new short hair cut.

克裏斯穿著硬領黑衫，新理了短發，看起來整潔帥氣。

來自柯林斯例句

5. Following in his steps, I passed through damp spruce woods to an open cliff.

我跟在他的後麵, 穿過一片潮濕的雲杉樹林,來到一片開闊的峭壁前.

來自《簡明英漢詞典》