aloof: [16] Aloof was originally a nautical term, a command to steer to windward. Its second syllable is a variant of luff ‘sail closer to the wind’ [13]. This was borrowed from Old French lof, ‘windward side of a ship’, which may itself have been, like so many maritime expressions, of Dutch origin. The modern figurative meaning ‘reserved, uninvolved’ developed via an intermediate physical sense ‘away, at a distance’. => luff
aloof (adj.)
1530s, from a- (1) + Middle English loof "weather gage," also "windward direction," probably from Dutch loef (Middle Dutch lof) "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" (1580s). Related: Aloofly; aloofness.
实用例句
1. Barry had his nose put out of joint by Lucy's aloof sophistication.
露西的冷淡与世故使得巴里十分不快。
来自柯林斯例句
2. I will hold myself aloof from wrong and corruption.
我会让自己远离错误和腐败。
来自柯林斯例句
3. He seemed aloof and detached.
他显得冷漠离群。
来自柯林斯例句
4. She stood tall and aloof.
她人很高，很冷漠。
来自柯林斯例句
5. He has remained largely aloof from the hurly - burly of parliamentary politics.
