aloof

Meanings

Adverb

• At or from a distance, but within view, or at a small distance; apart; away.
• Without sympathy; unfavorably.

Adjective

• Reserved and remote; either physically or emotionally distant; standoffish.

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".