close-up

Or close·up

[klohs-uhp]

noun

1. a photograph taken at close range or with a long focal-length lens, on a relatively large scale.

2. Also called close shot. Movies, Television.,  a camera shot taken at a very short distance from the subject, to permit a close and detailed view of an object or action.

3. an intimate view or presentation of anything.

adjective

1. of or resembling a close-up.

2. intimate or detailed; close-in.

close-up

/ ˈkləʊsˌʌp /

noun

1. a photograph or film or television shot taken at close range

2. a detailed or intimate view or examination

   a close-up of modern society

verb

1. to shut entirely

2. (intr) to draw together

   the ranks closed up

3. (intr) (of wounds) to heal completely

Word History and Origins

Origin of close-up¹

An Americanism first recorded in 1910–15; noun use of adverbial phrase close up

Idioms and Phrases

Also, close up shop. Stop doing business, temporarily or permanently; also, stop working. For example, The bank is closing up all its overseas branches, or That's enough work for one day—I'm closing up shop and going home. [Late 1500s]

Example Sentences

There was a comical incident when he turned the focus knob and unwittingly brought the face of a distant woolly sheep into close-up view.

Read more on Literature

There, with a few quick turns of the focus knob, she was able to bring the tender, moonlit eye of a calf into close-up view.

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He cites a journalist named Jeanne Loughlin, who wrote about Caesar’s perfect fit for television: “His spontaneous, adroit facial expressions—wonderful in television close-up—might be lost on a theater stage. His comic material, drawn mainly from perceptive observation of everyday life, might not be broad enough buffoonery for the movies. At night clubs, perhaps much of his comic creation of the adventures of an average man might be wasted.”

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

To personalize his close-up, Martinez had a suggestion of his own.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

There are jump cuts too, and interludes of his actors in close-up that could be color screen tests or just a nod to Hujar’s aptitude for portraits.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• attitude 
• concept 
• consideration 
• feeling 
• impression 
• judgment 
• mind 
• notion 
• opinion 
• point of view 
• sentiment 
• thought