P excelsa

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.] 1. (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}. [1913 Webster]

2. The wood or timber of the spruce tree. [1913 Webster]

3. Prussia leather; pruce. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]

Spruce, a sort of leather corruptly so called for Prussia leather. --E. Phillips. [1913 Webster]

{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}. [1913 Webster]