Aloof means keeping a cool distance from other people — not joining in, not warming up, not unfriendly exactly but not friendly either. He remained aloof throughout the evening.
It is almost always used of manner rather than position, and it carries a hint of deliberateness: aloofness is a choice, where shyness is not. The standard patterns are remain aloof, stay aloof and hold yourself aloof from something. It is a formal and slightly literary word. Compare distant, which is milder, standoffish, which is informal and blunter, and reserved, which is the kind version of the same observation.
1adjectivealoofKeeping a cool distance from other people.
“She stayed aloof from the whole argument.”
2adverbinvolvedAt a distance, and not involved.
“He held himself aloof from the committee.”
aloof is a manner of keeping distance.
Also accepted in games: distant
Aloof is a sailing word. A luff was the windward side of a ship, and to keep aloof was to steer up into the wind and so away from a dangerous shore. Keeping clear of the rocks became keeping clear of people.
Middle English
loof — weather gage, windward direction
English, today
aloof
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".
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in Sharper Adjectives, Moods & Relationships