Meaning

adjective remote in manner

adverb in an aloof manner

originFrom 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 3.0