Link Centre Dictionary

aloof

UK/əˈluːf/ US/ʌˈluf/ uncommon obsolete
adjective (1) adverb (1)

adjective

1.

remote in manner

  • “stood apart with aloof dignity”
  • “a distant smile”
  • “he was upstage with strangers”
Synonyms
Similar

adverb

1.

in an aloof manner

  • “the local gentry and professional classes had held aloof for the school had accepted their sons readily enough”

Origin

From Middle English loof (“weather gage, windward direction”), probably from Middle Dutch (Compare Dutch loef (“the weather side of a ship”)), originally a nautical order to keep the ship's head to the wind, thus to stay clear of a lee-shore or some other quarter, hence the figurative sense of "at a distance, apart".

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Word family

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.