spruce up

English

Pronunciation

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Verb

spruce up (third-person singular simple present spruces up, present participle sprucing up, simple past and past participle spruced up)

1. (idiomatic) To dress or arrange smartly, elegantly, and neatly; to smarten.
2. (idiomatic) To refresh, revamp; to freshen or improve something, especially its appearance.

   Fresh paint and some new curtains would do a lot to spruce up this dark room.

   • 2010, Bruce Gilley, “Deng Xiaoping and His Successors (1976 to the present)”, in William A. Joseph, editor, Politics in China: An Introduction‎^[1], Oxford University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 114:

     Hu Yaobang was officially rehabilitated on the ninetieth anniversary of his birth in 2005 and his mausoleum in China Youth League City (Gongqingcheng) in Jiangxi province was spruced up.

Synonyms

• spiff up
• sprucen up
• tart up

Translations

to dress smartly, elegantly

• French: bichonner (fr)
• Hungarian: kicsípi magát (hu)
• Italian: agghindare (it), agghindarsi (it), mettersi in ghingheri, abbellire (it), azzimare (it), adornare (it)
• Japanese: しゃれる (shareru)
• Korean: 멋부리다 (meotburida)
• Russian: прихора́шиваться (ru) n or impf (prixorášivatʹsja)
• Spanish: acicalarse (es)

to refresh, revamp; to freshen or improve something, especially its appearance — see also spiff up

• Hungarian: kicsinosít (hu), feldob (hu), feldíszít (hu), kidíszít (hu), puccba vág

Anagrams

• super cup, supercup