Crossword Dictionary
aloof
aloof - r
in an aloof manner; "the local gentry and professional classes had held aloof for the school had accepted their sons readily enough"
synonyms
antisocial, asocial, buttoned-up, cold, cold-eyed, cool, detached, distant, dry, frosty, offish, remote, standoff, standoffish, unbending, unclubbable, unsociable
in a sentence
They tried to keep aloof from the politics of the day.
the new kid was really not so aloof as we thought him at first, just painfully shy
In truth, he isn't so much aloof as he is courtly in a formal, afternoon-tea sort of way.
etymology
1530s, "to windward," from a- (1) "on" + Middle English loof "windward direction," probably from Dutch loef (Middle Dutch lof) "the weather side of a ship" (see luff (n.)). Originally in nautical orders to keep the ship's head to the wind, thus to stay clear of a lee-shore or some other quarter; hence "at a distance but within view" (1530s) and, figuratively, "apart, withdrawn, without community spirit" (with verbs stand, keep, etc.). As an adjective from c. 1600. Related: Aloofly; aloofness.