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   aloof

   /əˈluːf/

   adjective

   • 1. not friendly or forthcoming; cool and distant: "they were courteous but faintly aloof"
   • ▪ conspicuously uninvolved: "he stayed aloof from the bickering"

   Word Origin mid 16th century: from a-2 (expressing direction) + luff. The term was originally an adverb in nautical use, meaning ‘away and to windward!’, i.e. with the ship's head kept close to the wind away from a lee shore etc. towards which it might drift. From this arose the sense ‘at a distance’.

   Derivatives

   • 1. aloofly adverb
   • 2. aloofness noun

   Scrabble Points: 8

   • A

     1

   • L

     1

   • O

     1

   • O

     1

   • F

     4

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