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.
雙語例句
1. Barry had his nose put out of joint by Lucy's aloof sophistication.
露西的冷淡與世故使得巴里十分不快。
來自柯林斯例句
2. I will hold myself aloof from wrong and corruption.
我會讓自己遠離錯誤和腐敗。
來自柯林斯例句
3. He seemed aloof and detached.
他顯得冷漠離群。
來自柯林斯例句
4. She stood tall and aloof.
她人很高，很冷漠。
來自柯林斯例句
5. He has remained largely aloof from the hurly - burly of parliamentary politics.