Both Uses of
aloof
in
The House of the Seven Gables
- So—with many a cold, deep heart-quake at the idea of at last coming into sordid contact with the world, from which she had so long kept aloof, while every added day of seclusion had rolled another stone against the cavern door of her hermitage—the poor thing bethought herself of the ancient shop-window, the rusty scales, and dusty till.†
Chpt 2aloof = socially distant or uninterested
- Hitherto, the life-blood has been gradually chilling in your veins as you sat aloof, within your circle of gentility, while the rest of the world was fighting out its battle with one kind of necessity or another.†
Chpt 3 *
Definition:
socially distant or uninterested in something that interests others -- often thinking oneself superior to others