spruce-up

[ sproos-uhp ]

noun

1. an act of cleaning up, refurbishing, renovating, or the like.

spruce up

verb

1. adverb to make (oneself, a person, or thing) smart and neat

Word History and Origins

Origin of spruce-up¹

Noun use of verb phrase spruce up

Idioms and Phrases

Make neat and trim, as in She spruced up the chairs with new cushions . This idiom originated in the late 1500s as simply spruce but had acquired up by 1676.

Example Sentences

The route from the airport to Apia - Samoa's capital - had been spruced up for the royal visit on Wednesday.

From BBC

The hall is spruced up with new seats and looks lovely.

From Los Angeles Times

Creating a native plant landscaping campaign around the Olympics is a better way to extol the region’s ecological heritage while giving Los Angeles a badly needed sprucing up, Meyer said.

From Los Angeles Times

In the 1990s, mayor Richard Riordan raised private millions to spruce up the fusty place to make it fit for official receptions and events.

From Los Angeles Times

Apple on Thursday disclosed its steepest quarterly decline in iPhone sales since the pandemic’s outset, deepening a slump that’s increasing the pressure on the trendsetting company to spruce up its products with more artificial intelligence.

From Seattle Times

Related Words

• dress up
• fix up
• primp
• tidy