different between spruce vs nitty

English

Etymology

From Middle English Spruce, an alteration of Pruce (“Prussia”), from Medieval Latin, from a Baltic language, probably Old Prussian; for more, see Prussia. Spruce, spruse (1412), and Sprws (1378) were terms for commodities brought to England by Hanseatic merchants (beer, wood, leather). The tree with this name was also believed to have been native to Prussia. The adjective and verb senses ("trim, neat" and "to make trim, neat") are attested from 1594, and originate with spruce leather (1466), which was used to make a popular style of jerkins in the 1400s that was considered smart-looking.

Pronunciation

• enPR: spro?os, (US) IPA^(key): /sp?u?s/
• Rhymes: -u?s

Noun

spruce (countable and uncountable, plural spruces or spruce)

1. Any of various large coniferous evergreen trees or shrubs from the genus Picea, found in northern temperate and boreal regions; originally and more fully spruce fir.
2. (uncountable) The wood of a spruce.
3. (used attributively) Made of the wood of the spruce.

4. (obsolete) Prussian leather; pruce.

Derived terms

• black spruce (Picea mariana)
• blue spruce (Picea pungens)
• dark-bark spruce (Picea jezoensis)
• Engelmann's spruce (Picea engelmannii)
• European spruce (Picea abies)
• Koyama's spruce (Picea koyamae)
• Norway spruce (Picea abies)
• red spruce (Picea rubens)
• Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis)
• white spruce (Picea glauca)

Translations

See also

• Spruce on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Picea on Wikispecies.Wikispecies

Adjective

spruce (comparative sprucer, superlative sprucest)

1. (comparable) Smart, trim, and elegant in appearance; fastidious (said of a person).
   • 1919, William Somerset Maugham, The Moon and Sixpence, chapter 31

     He had great neatness of person, and he continued to wear his spruce black coat and his bowler hat, always a little too small for him, in a dapper, jaunty manner.

   • 2012, The Economist, 13th Oct 2012, Plessey returns: Chips with everything

     The two clean rooms, where chips are made, are sprucer than a hospital theatre.

Translations

Verb

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

1. (usually with up) To arrange neatly; tidy up.
2. (transitive, intransitive, usually with up) To make oneself spruce (neat and elegant in appearance).
3. To tease. (Can we add an example for this sense?)

Derived terms

• spruce up

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “spruce”, in Online Etymology Dictionary

Anagrams

• cusper, recups

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): (modern) /?n?ti?/, (older) /?n?t?/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?n?ti/, /-?i/
• Rhymes: -?ti
• Hyphenation: nit?ty

Etymology 1

From nit +? -y. The “foolish, inane” adjective sense is from nit (“fool, nitwit”), possibly under the influence of nutty (“crazy, mad”).

The origin of the noun sense (“dope fiend, druggie”) is unknown, but could refer to a person who is under the influence of drugs to the extent that he or she is careless about personal hygiene and unkempt. Compare the verb nit (“to be a nitty”).

Adjective

nitty (comparative nittier or more nitty, superlative nittiest or most nitty)

1. (archaic, also figuratively) Full of nits.

   Synonym: lousy
2. (chiefly Britain, slang) Foolish, inane.

   Synonyms: dumb, idiotic

Alternative forms

• nittie (obsolete)

Translations

Noun

nitty (plural nitties)

1. (African-American Vernacular, MLE, slang) A dope fiend, a druggie.

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:addict

Translations

Etymology 2

Probably from nitty(-gritty).

Adjective

nitty (comparative nittier or more nitty, superlative nittiest or most nitty)

1. (Excessively) detailed or specific; fastidious, fussy, nit-picky.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:fastidious
2. (poker slang) Of a poker player: playing in an overly cautious and reactive manner.

Translations

Etymology 3

A clipping of nitid (“bright, lustrous, shining”), or directly derived from Latin nitidus (“glittering, shining”), from nite? (“to glitter, shine; to look beautiful or bright”) (from Proto-Indo-European *ney- (“to shine”)) + idus (“suffix meaning ‘tending to’”).

Adjective

nitty (comparative more nitty, superlative most nitty)

1. (obsolete, rare) Shining; elegant, spruce.

Translations

References

Further reading

• nitty (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• tinty