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.
中文解释
1. 谐音“是普鲁士”。2. Prussia => *Pruce => spruce (denoting Prussia or something originating in Prussia).3. 首字母s的赘入，无法确定，可能是连读音变的结果，或者可以理解为加强之意。
实用例句
1. Early settlers built frames of spruce, maple and pine.
早期的定居者用云杉木、枫木和松木建造屋架。
来自柯林斯例句
2. It was made of soft lumber, spruce by the look of it.
其制作材料是软木，看起来像是云杉。
来自柯林斯例句
3. He looked spruce in his best clothes.
他穿了最漂亮的衣裳,看来很神气.
来自《简明英汉词典》
4. Chris was looking spruce in his stiff-collared black shirt and new short hair cut.
克里斯穿着硬领黑衫，新理了短发，看起来整洁帅气。
来自柯林斯例句
5. Following in his steps, I passed through damp spruce woods to an open cliff.
