The Collaborative International Dictionary
Spruce \Spruce\ (spr[udd]s), n. [OE. Spruce or Pruse, Prussia, Prussian. So named because it was first known as a native of Prussia, or because its sprouts were used for making, spruce beer. Cf. Spruce beer, below, Spruce, a.]
(Bot.) Any coniferous tree of the genus Picea, as the Norway spruce ( P. excelsa), and the white and black spruces of America ( P. alba and P. nigra), besides several others in the far Northwest. See Picea.
The wood or timber of the spruce tree.
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Prussia leather; pruce. [Obs.]
Spruce, a sort of leather corruptly so called for Prussia leather.
--E. Phillips.Douglas spruce (Bot.), a valuable timber tree ( Pseudotsuga Douglasii) of Northwestern America.
Essence of spruce, a thick, dark-colored, bitterish, and acidulous liquid made by evaporating a decoction of the young branches of spruce.
Hemlock spruce (Bot.), a graceful coniferous tree ( Tsuga Canadensis) of North America. Its timber is valuable, and the bark is largely used in tanning leather.
Spruce beer. [G. sprossenbier; sprosse sprout, shoot (akin to E. sprout, n.) + bier beer. The word was changed into spruce beer because the beer came from Prussia (OE. Spruce), or because it was made from the sprouts of the spruce. See Sprout, n., Beer, and cf. Spruce, n.] A kind of beer which is tinctured or flavored with spruce, either by means of the extract or by decoction.
Spruce grouse. (Zo["o]l.) Same as Spruce partridge, below.
Spruce leather. See Spruce, n., 3.
Spruce partridge (Zo["o]l.), a handsome American grouse ( Dendragapus Canadensis) found in Canada and the Northern United States; -- called also Canada grouse.
Usage examples of "hemlock spruce".
Across the small lake no other houses were visible -- only a wall of hemlock spruce with their ragged tips bowed in the manner of prayer or obeisance to the snow-clad mountains beyond, all reflected perfectly in the flat, still waters.