white spruce
1
5.6
- noun
- /waɪt sprus/
- US
:
pícea blanca
- Instead, he built Mr. Pommeroy a coffin of clean white spruce, sanded and polished with light oil.
- white spruce trees
- white spruce forest
- white spruce and balsam
Examples
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Timber was harvested here in the 1950s, then black spruce, white spruce, and jack pine were replanted between 1961 and 1964.
Academic text (2012) -
It is uncertain how well Alaska's fine stands of white spruce will bear up over long-term climate change.
Academic text (1996) -
Mine has climbed a white spruce tree to above the peak of the garage roof.
Blog text (4) -
This is a weeping white spruce we planted this spring.
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She had gone outside, hollowed out spots in the snow, and made a path across the yard to a small white spruce, a perfect Christmas tree growing on the edge of the woods.
Fiction book (1999) -
In addition to balsam fir, they often host red spruce, white spruce, mountain ash, and heart-leaved paper birch.
Academic text (1998) -
Even in periods like the mid-1980s, when white spruce ostensibly were recovering from a stretch of dryness, their growth rates were comparable to those of the early 1940s, a peak time of stress for plants in this region.
Academic text (1996) -
Working in the field to re-evaluate past studies, Allister assessed the long-term effects of herbicides on forests with a particular focus on the white spruce (Picea glauca).
Academic text (2009) -
In the park, a group of children played under the shade of a tall white spruce tree.
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During the hike, we saw a stunning landscape filled with white spruce and other evergreens.
Synonyms
A medium-sized evergreen tree with short blue-green needles called white spruce
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'white' modifies 'spruce', indicating a spruce tree with a pale/white appearance (i.e., the species known as white spruce). This adjective+noun naming pattern is common and cross-linguistically straightforward, so a B1 learner who knows both words would be able to infer the referent.
Etymology
White spruce gets its name from the tree's pale bark and light-colored wood, so people used white to describe this spruce and to show it has a 'lighter color' than other trees.