aloof
adverb
No English definition recorded for this entry.
L20010 on Wikidata ↗adjective
- at or from a distance, but within view, or at a small distance; apart; away
- without sympathy; unfavorably
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /əˈluːf/
adj
Etymology: 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".
- Reserved and remote; either physically or emotionally distant; standoffish.
“None may ever hear the speech of the poets of that city, to whom the gods have spoken. It stands a city aloof. There hath been no rumour of it—I alone have dreamed of it, and I may not be sure that my dreams are true.”
adv
Etymology: 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".
- At or from a distance, but within view, or at a small distance; apart; away.
“Sisyphus also I saw, with unwelcomest taskage tormented, / Toilsomely hoisting aloof, unassisted, a ponderous round stone.”
“The noise approaches, tho' our palace stood Aloof from streets, encompass'd with a wood”
- Without sympathy; unfavorably.
“But to open the Bible in this spirit — to take the Book as from the hand of God, and then to look at it aloof, and with caution, as if throughout it were illusory and enigmatical, is the worst of all impieties.”
prep
Etymology: 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".
- Away from; clear of.
“Rivetus […] would fain work himself aloof these rocks and quicksands.”