Deeper Dive: few
few
adjective [comparative Fewer (fū′ẽr); superlative Fewest.] [OE. fewe, feawe, AS. feá, pl. feáwe; akin to OS. fāh, OHG. fō fao, Icel. fār, Sw. få, pl., Dan. faa, pl., Goth. faus, L. paucus, cf. Gr. παῦρος. Cf. Paucity.]
Not many; small, limited, or confined in number; – indicating a small portion of units or individuals constituting a whole; often, by ellipsis of a noun, a few people.
“Are not my days few?” Job x. 20.
Few know and fewer care. Proverb.
☞ Few is often used partitively; as, few of them.
A few
a small number.
In few
,
few words; briefly. Shak.
No few
not few; more than a few; many. Cowper.
The few
the minority; – opposed to the many or the majority.
-- Webster's unabridged 1913
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