fewadj.pron.n.

Brit.

/fjuː/, U.S.

/fju/

Forms:

α. early Old English feoo, Old English fæ- (inflected form, rare), Old English fæaw- (inflected form, rare), Old English fæw- (inflected form), Old English fea, Old English feag- (inflected form, rare), Old English feau- (inflected form, rare), Old English feaw- (in derivatives), Old English weawum (dative plural, transmission error), Old English–early Middle English feawa, Old English–early Middle English feawæ (rare), Old English–1600s feawe, late Old English feæ (Kentish), late Old English feæwæ (Kentish), late Old English feow- (inflected form), late Old English feu- (inflected form), late Old English (rare)–early Middle English fæwe, early Middle English fawe (south-west midlands), early Middle English fæu, early Middle English feaue (south-eastern), early Middle English feuȝe, early Middle English feuwe, early Middle English fiewe (south-west midlands), early Middle English viawe (south-eastern), Middle English feghur (north-west midlands, comparative, in a late copy), Middle English feue, Middle English fewȝ, Middle English feyȝ, Middle English ffewe, Middle English fowe (south-western), Middle English fuwe, Middle English ueawe (south-eastern), Middle English uewe (south-western), Middle English veawe (south-eastern), Middle English vewe (south-western and south-west midlands), Middle English weawe (south-western), Middle English–1600s feaw, Middle English–1600s feu, Middle English–1600s fewe, Middle English– few, 1500s–1600s feowe, 1500s–1600s fiew, 1600s feow, 1600s fev; English regional 1800s faew (Yorkshire), 1800s veaw (south-western), 1800s veo (south-western), 1800s vew (south-western), 1900s– feo (south-west midlands), 1900s– feow (south-west midlands); Scottish pre-1700 feu, pre-1700 feue, pre-1700 fewe, pre-1700 1700s– few, 1800s feou, 1800s feow, 1800s fyour (comparative), 1800s– fyou, 1800s– fyow, 1900s fow; Irish English (Wexford) 1800s vew; N.E.D. (1895) also records a form early Middle English vawe (southern).

β. northern, north-east midlands, and East Anglian Middle English fa, Middle English faa, Middle English fo, Middle English foe.

γ. northern Middle English fon, Middle English fone, Middle English foyn, Middle English foyne.

δ. Chiefly northern Middle English fewne, Middle English foun, Middle English foune, Middle English fune, Middle English fwne.

Origin: A word inherited from Germanic.

Etymology: Cognate with Old Frisian fē , Old Saxon fahu , Old High German fō , fao , Old Icelandic fár , Old Swedish far (Swedish få ), Danish faa , Gothic fawai (plural) < the same Indo-European base as (with different extensions) ancient Greek παῦρος little, small, classical Latin parvus small, classical Latin paucus few, and probably also ancient Greek παῖς boy, child. In Middle English partly also (in β. forms) < early Scandinavian (compare Old Icelandic fár and other Scandinavian forms listed above).In Old English the word usually appears in the plural (nominative and accusative plural fēawa ; also fēawe , fēa ). Indeclinable use of such forms is also attested, as well as occasional use in constructions with singular agreement (compare later use of the adjective with noun in the singular in senses A. 2b, A. 3). The northern γ. forms apparently show alteration of the β. forms after whon n. and adj. (The α. forms are not attested in the Northumbrian dialect of Old English or in northern Middle English sources before the mid 15th cent.) The δ. forms show a subsequent alteration of the γ. forms after the α. forms. The precise sense of the plural of Old English ān in the constructions with the adjective or the noun that apparently underlie later a few (see senses A. 2a, B. 2a) is not entirely clear. It has been compared with use before collective numerals (compare one adj., n., and pron. Compounds 2a, a adj. 1c), or interpreted as ‘only’ (compare one adj. 5a) or as indicating an approximation (compare a adj. 3a).

A. adj. and determiner.

1. Not many; amounting only to a small number. Also preceded by modifying words, esp. but, so, too, very.Without a preceding determiner, as here, few usually implies antithesis with ‘many’.For the use of less to mean fewer in this sense see discussion at less adj. 3.

a. Modifying a plural noun either specified or implied by the context. Also after first, last, next; see also last adj. 7a(c).Also, in the comparative, as pronoun, frequently with of-phrase as complement (cf. sense B. 1b).

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > number > plurality > fewness > [adjective]

feweOE

whonc950

litea1000

littleOE

petitc1390

wheenc1400

sobera1535

slim1852

eOE King Ælfred tr. Gregory Pastoral Care (Hatton) (1871) xii. 75 Ac ðis ðæt we nu feam wordum arimdon we willað hwene rumedlicor heræfter areccean.

OE Ælfric Homily: De Falsis Diis (Corpus Cambr. 178) in J. C. Pope Homilies of Ælfric (1968) II. 681 Þa hæþenan noldan beon gehealdene on swa feawum godum, ac fengon to wurðianne mislice entas.

?a1160 Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Laud) (Peterborough contin.) anno 1138 Him com togænes Willelm eorl of Albamar..& to [read te] other æuez men mid fæu men.

a1225 (c1200) Vices & Virtues (1888) 25 Ðis understandeþ auer to feawe saules.

c1300 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Otho) (1978) l. 13311 Leopen to þan Bruttus and feue hii þar nemen.

a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) i. l. 1424 (MED) Wher that he fewe frendes hadde.

?a1425 Mandeville's Trav. (Egerton) (1889) 24 In Egipte er bot fewe castelles.

a1450 York Plays (1885) 174 (MED) With wordes fewne.

1526 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfection iii. sig. OOv^v The gyfte of prerogatyue called discrecion..is but in fewe persons.

1598 W. Shakespeare Henry IV, Pt. 1 ii. v. 100 That euer this fellowe should haue fewer wordes then a Parrat.

1611 Bible (King James) Job xiv. 1 Man that is borne of a woman, is of few dayes.

1698 T. Emes Dialogue Alkali & Acid 60 From the Adhesions and Combinations of sometimes more, sometimes fewer of these Simple Particles, all the varieties of mix'd Bodies result.

1734 G. Berkeley Three Dialogues Hylas & Philonous (ed. 3) ii. 259 Few Men think, yet all will have Opinions.

1751 Earl of Orrery Remarks Swift 60 Guilty in so few sentences of so many solecisms.

1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth V. 47 That curiosity very few have an opportunity of gratifying.

1812 Sydney Gaz. 22 Feb. 2/1 The frequent showers of the last few days apprise us of the approach of March.

1845 G. Budd On Dis. Liver 280 Among the numbers of bodies that I examined..very few, indeed hardly any, had gall-stones.

1870 E. Peacock Ralf Skirlaugh II. 189 A man of few words.

1903 Amer. Anthropologist 5 549 With few exceptions the divisions occur in young or adolescent monkeys.

1934 Social Forces 13 71/2 Urban families own still fewer of these possessions except as regards automobiles.

1989 R. MacNeil Wordstruck iv. 119 He despatched my first few balls smartly, earning three runs.

2016 Daily Tel. 3 Feb. 15/5 Increasing numbers of young people live in homes where there are few, if any, books.

b. Predicatively.

ΚΠ

eOE (Mercian) Vespasian Psalter (1965) cviii. 8 Fiant dies eius pauci et episcopatum eius accipiat alter : sien dægas his fea & biscophad his onfoeð oðer.

OE Ælfric Catholic Homilies: 2nd Ser. (Cambr. Gg.3.28) xxxv. 301 Ne sind Godes frynd na feawa, ac sind fela swa swa se witega cwæð.

a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 8599 Þair clathes was sa gnede and fa.

1483 Catholicon Anglicum (BL Add. 89074) (1881) 129/2 To be Fewe, rarere.

a1500 (?c1400) Sir Triamour (Cambr.) (1937) l. 539 (MED) There was fewe that rewyd ther on.

1593 R. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Politie i. ii. 49 It behoueth our wordes to be warie and fewe.

1611 Bible (King James) Deut. vii. 7 Ye were the fewest of all people.

1657 S. Purchas Theatre Flying-insects ii. 314 If the Bees be few, [Moths] will breed their blots in their combes.

1711 J. Addison Spectator No. 93. ¶1 We are always Complaining our Days are few.

1764 O. Goldsmith Traveller 11 If few their wants, their pleasures are but few.

1814 Ld. Byron Lara ii. xx. 1248 Her tears were few, her wailing never loud.

1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 441 The gunmakers of Utrecht were found too few to execute the orders.

1909 Auckland Weekly News 29 May 17/4 A few other species are found..; but these are few and scattered.

1967 Bull. Entomol. Res. 57 231 Leaves are fewest and shade is least in September.

2012 Galveston (Texas) Daily News 27 Sept. a12/3 Only three girls turned out for Castleford's girls' squad, one too few to field a formal team.

2. With indefinite article.

a. Modifying a plural noun and construed with a plural verb: a small number of.On the sense of Old English ān in this construction, see note in etymology.

ΚΠ

OE Ælfric Gram. (St. John's Oxf.) 3 Swaswa hit wæs gedon on Angelcynne nu for anum feawum gearum.

c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) l. 407 Þe king mid a vewe men him self fleiȝ atte laste.

c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) Mark vi. 5 He myȝte not make there ony vertu, no but heelide a fewe sike men.

a1425 (?a1400) G. Chaucer Romaunt Rose (Hunterian) (1891) l. 5985 He shal in a fewe stoundes Lese all his markis.

c1475 Antichrist & Disciples in J. H. Todd Three Treat. J. Wycklyffe (1851) p. cxxx (MED) Crist laye in a stable bi twix an oxe & an asse & a fewe cloutes..& þei in gay chaumbres..wiþ tapites & qwisschyns spradde al a boute.

a1500 (c1477) T. Norton Ordinal of Alchemy (BL Add.) (1975) 96 (MED) My pitee doeth me constrayne To shew the trouth in a few wordis & playne.

1550 Sir R. Morysine Let. 17 Dec. in P. F. Tytler Eng. under Edward VI & Mary (1839) I. 345 I pray you let me now and then have a few lines from you.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Cymbeline (1623) iv. ii. 284 Heere's a few Flowres.

1667 W. Walker Preciousness Christ 29 Let me put a few Queries into your mouths to ask your selves about this businesse, when you are at your best leisures.

1744 G. Berkeley Siris (ESTC T72826) §82 The..constant use of tar-water for a few weeks.

1796 H. Hunter tr. J.-H. B. de Saint-Pierre Stud. Nature (1799) II. 474 I will deliver my thoughts..in a few words.

1848 S. C. Bartlett Egypt to Palestine (1879) x. 220 One rock a few feet square.

1891 H. H. Peerless Diary 23 July (2003) 2 For a poor dinner of cold mutton, a few potatoes, pickled walnuts and two lemon-and-dashes they had the audacity to charge us seven shillings.

1936 Quill & Quire Oct. 14/1 I should like to clear the atmosphere with a few simple facts.

1967 A. L. Rowse Diary 1 July (2003) 411 There were still a few bits of old china about: one fine eighteenth-century bureau full of coloured Worcester.

2008 Vanity Fair Oct. 230/2 The men..rigged up a small generator for a few hours of electricity.

b. Modifying a mass noun treated as a plural count noun: (of quantity) not much, a little. Chiefly in a few broth, a few gruel, a few porridge. English regional and Scottish in later use.The nouns broth and porridge frequently occur with plural agreement in English regional and Scottish varieties that show this construction.

ΚΠ

1551 T. Lever Serm. xiiii. December (new ed.) sig. E.ii^v Hauyng a fewe porage made of the brothe of the same byefe.

1607 E. Topsell Hist. Foure-footed Beastes 253 Broath..to sup now and then a fewe.

1675 T. Powell Young Mans Confl. with Devil ii. 56 A poor Small-coal-man..was going along the streets, who was measuring of a few Small-coal to one of his Customers.

1752 W. Chaigneau Hist. Jack Connor II. ix. 114 He's very fond of a few broth.

1803 S. Pegge Anecd. Eng. Lang. (1844) xvi. 181 ‘Stay a few while,’ a Londoner says.

1825 J. T. Brockett Gloss. North Country Words (at cited word) A ‘little few broth’.

1893 in H. T. Cozens-Hardy Broad Norfolk (Eastern Daily Press) 60 Go home and have a few gruel or broth to keep the cold out.

1904 Acad. & Lit. 23 July 56/1 In many places in Scotland, and almost everywhere in England, I have heard it used as having a plural signification. For example: ‘Make a few porridge’.

1997 J. Whinray Down 'long weth We 27 We'd a fine denar sure enough; a few broth,..a starry-gazey pie, and a thoomping figgy pudden.

3. Of a company or number: small.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > number > plurality > fewness > [adjective] > containing few members

littleOE

few?a1425

small?a1439

thin1508

short1681

?a1425 (c1400) Mandeville's Trav. (Titus C.xvi) (1919) 148 The Chane rood with a fewe meynee [?a1425 Egerton a lytill cumpany; Fr. a poy de compaignie].

c1475 (?c1451) Bk. Noblesse (Royal) (1860) 27 He saw so few a companie of the Romains.

1531 T. Elyot Bk. named Gouernour i. xviii. sig. Jvii A few nombre of houndes.

a1600 R. Lindsay Hist. & Cron. Scotl. (1899) I. 281 The earle of Angus was come..and bot ane few number witht him.

c1610 J. Melville Mem. Own Life (1735) 13 He..did ride to the Parties himself with a few company.

1711 J. Swift Let. 19 July in Wks. (1768) XVIII. 14 There was a drawing-room to-day..but so few company, that [etc.].

1779 J. Curry Elem. Bleaching 30 Only a very few number of figures can be united, so as to produce a figure exactly of the same shape.

1828 C. Wordsworth King Charles I 133 Their number assuredly has not been few.

1870 Royal Comm. Inq. Primary Educ. Ireland III. 539/1 in Parl. Papers (C. 6-II) But the former failed, and they withdrew it,..in consequence of the very few number in attendance.

1904 Amer Wool & Cotton Reporter 4 Aug. 827/2 As their number was few there was little doubt but that all the garments would be sold.

1996 R. S. Carney in R. J. Schmitt & C. W. Osenberg Detecting Ecol. Impacts xv. 300 The number of samples having a very large number of specimens is..roughly equal to the number of samples having a very few number of specimens.

B. pron. and n.

I. Pronoun uses.

a. Not many people or things; only a small number.In earlier use frequently in, or with allusion to, the biblical phrase many are called but few are chosen (Matthew 20:16).

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > number > plurality > fewness > [noun] > few people

fewOE

OE Beowulf (2008) 3061 Weard ær ofsloh feara sumne; þa sio fæhð gewearð gewrecen wraðlice.

OE West Saxon Gospels: Matt. (Corpus Cambr.) xx. 16 Soþlice manega synt geclypede & feawa [OE Rushw. Gospels feawe; L. pauci] gecorene.

c1225 (?c1200) St. Katherine (Royal) (1981) l. 441 For nis him no derure forto adweschen feole þen fewe.

c1275 Kentish Serm. in J. Hall Select. Early Middle Eng. (1920) I. 221 Fele bieþ i clepede, ac feaue bieþ i cornee.

c1350 (a1333) William of Shoreham Poems (1902) 15 (MED) So feawe stondeþ styf To fytte aȝenis senne.

c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) Matt. xx. 16 For many ben clepid, bot few chosun.

a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 8496 Fa it wist quat it wald mene.

1484 W. Caxton tr. Subtyl Historyes & Fables Esope (1967) i. 193 Many one ben frendes of wordes only, but fewe ben in faytte or dede.

a1500 (?c1400) Sir Triamour (Cambr.) (1937) l. 540 Fewe for hym wepyth.

1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry VI f. clxj Many sought for him, but few espied hym.

1589 W. Warner Albions Eng. (new ed.) vi. xxx. 132 Few will iudge, I winne, If it shall come in question, that to Cockhole [1612 cuckhole] him were sinne.

1653 H. Holcroft tr. Procopius Persian Wars i. 8 in tr. Procopius Hist. Warres Justinian The Enemy..entring the Town by few at a time.

1706 D. Defoe Jure Divino viii. 30 Those wild, unhappy, Self-defending Few, If not destroy'd in Time, will ravel all the Clew.

1841 N.-Y. Mirror 18 Dec. 411/2 Few were in the castle save untrained lacqueys.

1879 E. Warne Dusky Rambles 25 To guard 'gainst its danger there be few Like the mate—and brave sailorette.

1928 Lawn Tennis & Badminton 23 June 255/2 Few could have foreseen that the two doubles would have been the ‘stone certainties’ for Britain that they proved to be.

1995 Times 9 June 17/2 Without the crowds..few are economic, and many are now a drain on municipal resources.

2007 New Yorker 30 July 32/1 Few would deny that the past year was deeply unnerving.

b. With of-phrase as complement.In Old English chiefly with partitive genitive; cf. quots. eOE, OE¹. In early use with of, sometimes difficult to distinguish from use with of-phrase as complement of the verb (cf. of prep. 29).

ΚΠ

eOE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Parker) anno 914 Þa slog hie mon æt ægþrum cirre, þæt hira feawa onweg comon.

OE West Saxon Gospels: Matt. (Corpus Cambr.) ix. 37 Witodlice micel rip ys & feawa wyrhtyna.

OE Byrhtferð Enchiridion (Ashm.) (1995) ii. iii. 120 Swylce ic of manegum feawa hrepige.

c1175 ( Ælfric Homily (Bodl. 343) in S. Irvine Old Eng. Homilies (1993) 24 To feawæ of þam folce ilyfdon.

?a1400 (a1338) R. Mannyng Chron. (Petyt) (1996) ii. l. 5834 He went to play a wile with fo of his banere.

c1440 Prose Life Alexander (Thornton) (1913) 65 (MED) He fande..veselles..sum of Suluere..Bot þare were bot fewe of þam of Siluere.

1526 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfection i. sig. Dviii Fewe of them..miscaried.

1579 S. Gosson Schoole of Abuse f. 29 They..returne home by weeping Crosse, and fewe of them come to an honest ende.

1604 E. Grimeston tr. J. de Acosta Nat. & Morall Hist. Indies i. xxi. 70 There are few of those beastes, which at Peru they call Guancos.

1666 J. Davies tr. C. de Rochefort Hist. Caribby-Islands vii. 39 There are few of the Islands but afford good Trees for the Carpenters and Joyners-Work.

1738 J. Hoofnail New Pract. Improvem. Exper. Colours xlix. 53 There are many other Vegetables..from which Yellow Colours can be produced..; but few of them are fine and lasting.

1781 H. H. Kames Loose Hints upon Educ. i. 34 Few of the lower sort ever think of disciplining their children to obedience.

1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 445 Few of the members of the late cabinet had any reason to expect his favour.

1875 A. Helps Aids Contentm. in Ess. 11 How few of your fellow-creatures can have the opportunity.

1928 Melody Maker Nov. 1193/3 Its rhythm had all the faults and few of the good points of the heavy ‘Palais’ style.

1975 L. Perl Slumps, Grunts, & Snickerdoodles xv. 117 We know that few of the wealthy rural squires of the American South bothered to conceal their fondness for imbibing.

2012 FourFourTwo Oct. 84/1 It maintains a cult status with fans that few of its contemporaries are able to match.

II. Noun uses.

2. With indefinite article.

a. A small number of people or things. Also with modifying adjective, as a faithful few, a select few, etc.

ΚΠ

OE Ælfric Catholic Homilies: 2nd Ser. (Bodl. 340) xi. 94 On ðam ænlipium he gesette twelf munecas, and ane feawa he geheold mid him sylfum.

c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) l. 8362 An vewe wiþ sunne of lecherie Mowe binime grace of god to al an compaynie.

c1380 Sir Ferumbras (1879) l. 953 Al þe feldes þo wern y-fuld of dede men on þe grounde, Saue an vewe þat leye & ȝulde.

a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 19782 He badd þa men be all vte-don, þat in þat hus left bot a fon.

c1450 (?a1400) Wars Alexander (Ashm.) l. 2061 Fra his faes with a fewe þe filde to de-voide.

1533 T. More Apologye xxii. 134 With perusyng after this fashyon of a fewe, there was none that one man named,..but fyue for that one reiected hym.

a1568 R. Ascham Scholemaster (1570) ii. f. 56 In euerie separate kinde of learnyng and studie..ye must follow, choselie a few, and chieflie some one.

a1616 W. Shakespeare All's Well that ends Well (1623) i. i. 61 Loue all, trust a few, Doe wrong to none.

1650 J. Dury Reformed Librarie-keeper 26 It [sc. the Librarie of Heidelberg] was ingrossed into the hands of a few, till it became a Prey unto the Enemies of the Truth.

1723 A. Pope Corr. Aug. (1956) II. 186 To pass my days with you, & a few such as you.

1775 S. Johnson Taxation No Tyranny 60 The whole town of Boston is distressed for the misdemeanour of a few.

1801 R. Southey Thalaba I. i. 55 A faithful few Prest thro' the throng to join him.

1880 L. Wallace Ben Hur iii. iv. 153 A few were biremes, the rest stout triremes.

1947 Clearing House 21 429/1 My class was unusually apathetic. Nevertheless, there were a few who were alert.

1993 Albuquerque (New Mexico) Jrnl. 25 Jan. (Business Outlook section) 27 (advt.) MBA Programs are not all created equal. A select few are granted national accreditation.

2003 J. R. Lennon Mailman i. iv. 209 A few have ‘dressed down’ and wear shorts and golf shirts; others are in suit and tie.

b. With of-phrase as complement. A small number of.In quot. OE with plural of Old English ān and partitive genitive. In early use (e.g. in quot. c1175) with of, sometimes difficult to distinguish from use with of-phrase as complement of the verb (cf. of prep. 29).

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > number > plurality > fewness > [noun] > few, not many

whonc950

liteOE

fewOE

wheenc1400

penny number1845

the world > relative properties > quantity > smallness of quantity, amount, or degree > [noun] > a small quantity or amount > some but not much

fewOE

a little1540

something1654

curn1785

OE Seven Sleepers (Julius) (1994) 54 Ic hæbbe ful gehende ane feawa geferena; hi synd her geond on þam scræfe æt Celian dune.

c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 19764 Ure laferrd crist..haffde off iudewisshe follc. Himm chosenn ane fæwe.

a1500 (a1460) Towneley Plays (1994) I. xiii. 138 I shall say thertyll Of good wordys a foyne.

1589 T. Nashe To Students in R. Greene Menaphon Epist. sig. **3 A few of our triuiall translators.

1629 (title) Essex doue, presenting the world with a few of her olive-branches.

1676 A. Marvell Mr. Smirke sig. E2^v A Few of the Few..have been carrying on a constant Conspiracy.

1722 D. Defoe Jrnl. Plague Year 23 I shall Name but a few of these Things; but sure they were so many.

1772 T. Nugent tr. P. J. Grosley Tour to London I. 44 Which casual appearance [of the sun] procures the Londoners a few of what they call glorious days.

1818 W. James Full & Correct Acct. Late War Great Brit. & U.S.A. II. xii. 67 A few of the boldest of the anti-government party stood up to undeceive the public.

1869 J. Greenwood Seven Curses London 246 Let us here enumerate a few of the ingredients with which the beer-shop keeper re-brews his beer.

1945 Pittsburgh Courier 24 Feb. 14 A few of his boys are trouble-making screw-ups who drink too much.

2012 N.Y. Times Mag. 12 Aug. 23/1 A few of the kids now take hormone blockers. A few others have come out as gay.

3. With the or a demonstrative determiner (e.g. these, those) and plural agreement.

a. Often with modifying adjective: a small specified body of people. Also (esp. in later use): the minority; often opposed to the many (see many pron. and n. 7).

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > number > plurality > fewness > [noun] > minority

feweOE

minority1716

eOE tr. Orosius Hist. (BL Add.) (1980) ii. viii. 52 Þa feawan þe þær to lafe wurdon gesealdon m punda goldes wið heora feore.

a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) I. ii. xx. 89 Þese fewe of ful many propirtees of euel spiritis and of þe effect of hem schal suffise for to passe schortliche.

a1525 Eng. Conquest Ireland (Trin. Dublin) (1896) 20 (MED) So that the slaght of þese fewe be ferdnesse to many & be ensample of these al other out-lond men to be adrede.

1549 M. Coverdale et al. tr. Erasmus Paraphr. Newe Test. II. 2 Cor. v. f. xvii^v They are but fewe, but onles ye auoyde the same fewes companie.

1603 T. Winter tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Second Day of First Weeke 40 Those few, whose setled confidence Is anchored on thy sacred prouidence.

1676 A. Marvell Mr. Smirke sig. E2^v A Few of the Few..have been carrying on a constant Conspiracy.

1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Æneis ix, in tr. Virgil Wks. 471 The wakeful few, the fuming Flaggon ply.

1733 J. Bramston Man of Taste 5 Strife still persists, which yields the better goût; Books or the world, the many or the few.

1777 J. Priestley Disquis. Matter & Spirit Pref. p. xvi The favour of the few may silence the clamour of the many.

1824 J. S. Mill in Westm. Rev. 2 347 When romance assumes the garb of history,..it infallibly allies itself with the sinister interests of the few.

1875 B. Jowett in tr. Plato Dialogues (ed. 2) III. 183 A life not for the many, but for the few.

1941 Music Educators Jrnl. 27 14/2 Similar periods of artistic richness in the past have been essentially aristocratic processes—the making of music by the talented few for the privileged few.

1977 Times 8 Feb. 17/1 The philistines would be foolish to regard aid for the arts merely as a perk provided by all for the esoteric pursuits of the few.

2003 T. Vanhanen Democratization (2004) ii. 28 Briefly defined, democracy is the government of the many, and autocracy the government of the few.

b. Chiefly with capital initial. (An informal title of respect for) the Royal Air Force pilots who took part in the Battle of Britain in 1940, during the Second World War. [In allusion to a speech of Winston Churchill (see Churchillian adj.³): see quot. 1940.]

ΘΚΠ

society > armed hostility > hostilities in the air > airman > [noun] > fighter pilot > pilots in the Battle of Britain

few1941

1940 W. S. Churchill Into Battle (1941) 259 Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.]

1941 Illustr. London News 19 Apr. 518/1 In the above series of portraits,..the artist..shows characteristic types of those few to whom ‘so many owe so much’.

1943 N.Y. Times 16 Sept. 14/2 (headline) Britain honors ‘the few’.

1978 Jrnl. Royal Soc. Arts 126 25/2 The scientists.., together with the Few, had saved Britain in 1940 when everything appeared lost.

2012 P. Mason How Washington fleeced Nation iv. 137 The Battle of Britain, when ‘The Few’ defended the island homeland from the Nazi air onslaught, was certainly the most decisive battle in the early phase of the war.

†4. colloquial or slang (ironic). With indefinite article. [Perhaps compare little pron. and n. 4 and also French un peu a bit.]

a. Used adverbially: to a considerable extent or degree; quite a bit. Cf. Phrases 1b(c). Obsolete.

ΚΠ

1756 F. Greville & F. Greville Maxims, Characters, & Refl. 19 He bustles and bestirs himself a few.

1763 A. Murphy Citizen ii. i. 26 I..throw my eyes about a few.

1807 Salmagundi 27 June 233 He was determined to astonish the natives a few!

1865 J. R. Lowell Lett. (1894) I. 347 I am..a little few (un petit peu) vexed.

1911 Cosmopolitan July 215/1 Say, we went a few, didn't we? Smoke, I don't mind tellin' you in confidence that before we started I was the gosh-dangdest scaredest man this side of the Rocky Mountains.

b. A considerable amount or quantity. Also with modifier. Obsolete. rare.

ΚΠ

?1856 F. E. Smedley Harry Coverdale's Courtship v. 26 ‘Can you sit a leap?’ ‘I believe you, rayther, just a very few.’

1857 C. Kingsley Two Years Ago III. vii. 217 If one man in a town has pluck and money, he may do it. It'll cost him a few.

Phrases

P1. With preceding modifier.

a. some few.

(a) Used adjectivally: some but not a considerable number of.In quot. a1642: some but not a considerable quantity of.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > number > plurality > fewness > [noun] > a small number of

some fewOE

puckleOE

a litec1290

couple1365

a…or twoa1400

handfulc1443

a wheen (of)1487

and odd1548

sprinkling1561

pair1611

scattering1628

sprinkle1754

OE Ælfric Catholic Homilies: 1st Ser. (Royal) (1997) xxvii. 401 Wunede þa sume feawa daga mid þam Godes þeowan binnon þære byrig.

lOE St. Giles (Corpus Cambr. 303) (1980) 124 Wunode þa get mid him sume feawe [L. aliquot] dagas.

1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 150 Some fewe sentences whiche the lernar shall fynde before the begynnyng of the sayd vocabulyst.

a1642 H. Best Farming & Memorandum Bks. (1984) 71 A pecke..of malte and some few honey.

1747 S. Fielding Familiar Lett. David Simple II. xxxviii. 243 There being some few Women, who cannot admire..the Object of Mens Admiration.

1876 J. Saunders Lion in Path iii He went straight on to the noble palace that had been placed at the service of James II some few years before.

1992 Hist. Jrnl. 35 766 Easter fell on 30 March in 1483, some few days before Edward IV's death.

(b) Used as noun: some but not a considerable number; also with of-phrase as complement.

ΚΠ

1533 T. More Apologye xxxvi. f. 195 This pacifyer..hath ben ther by persuaded to thynke that many other folke sayde and knewe the thynge that some few told hym for very treuth.

a1681 J. Lacy Sr. Hercules Buffoon v. 111 in Dramatic Wks. (1875) 294 Jud. He is the first subject that ever made himself a Knight. Her. Not by some few, my lord.

1737 J. Drummond Mem. Locheill (1842) 127 He made some few of them prissoners.

1840 Western Farmer & Gardener Oct. 16/1 We have apples, pears, and peaches..; some few are good, but by far the greater part unworthy of garden room.

1991 Jrnl. Cryptol. 3 109 Imagine a company that deals with large numbers of documents each day, some few of which are later found to be incriminating.

2004 J. P. Gee Situated Lang. & Learning Introd. 1 Some feared I would continue... Some few might have hoped I would continue.

b. not a few.

(a) Used adjectivally: a considerable number of.

ΚΠ

?1477 Lydgate’s Horse, Ghoos, & Sheep (Caxton) Cam to fore calais with flemyngis not a fewe.

?1510 T. More tr. G. F. Pico della Mirandola Lyfe I. Picus sig. a.iiii Yet lakked they erudition and lernynge: which questions: notwith stonding by fore that not a few famous doctours of diuinite had..subscribed their names vndre them.

1665 T. H. Exact Surv. Affaires Netherlands 169 About which matter there are not a few blastings and Factions.

1794 J. Stele Ess. Manufacturing Milk into Butter & Cheese 104 Not a few considerable farmers have no other milk nor cheese house than their barn.

1843 T. J. Graham Cold-water Syst. (ed. 2) 5 There are not a few diseases in which the skilful physician will be far more successful..than the most perfect hydropath.

1970 N. Armstrong et al. First on Moon ii. 42 There was so much partying that not a few people wondered about the size of the national hangover.

2010 Independent 4 Nov. (Viewspaper section) 4/5 The Tea Party..joins together Independents, Republicans and not a few Democrats.

(b) Used as noun: a considerable number; also with of-phrase as complement.

ΚΠ

1533 T. More Debellacyon Salem & Bizance ii. xvi. f. lxxvi^v I am very sure there be not a fewe that haue herd suche euydence.

1668 J. Beale Let. 27 June in H. Oldenburg Corr. (1967) IV. 474 Wee have often discoursed & found yt some others, perhaps not a few of ye R S, are somewt unfriendly.

1780 J. Brett tr. B. J. Feijóo y Montenegro Ess. II. xvii. 167 Among the professors of literature, there are not a few, who make themselves unpleasant companions.

1876 Encycl. Brit. V. 209/2 Not a few of the slabs..bearing a pagan inscription on one side, and a Christian one on the other. These are known as opisthographs.

1933 Bulletin (Sydney) 1 Nov. 11/1 A John Hop who has helped to deal with many ‘methos.’ tells me not a few prefer petrol.

2009 Art Q. Winter 61/1 Not a few of those [artists] usually overlooked by books like this are given their money's worth.

(c) Used adverbially: considerably. rare.

ΚΠ

1778 S. Burney Let. July in F. Burney Early Diary (1889) II. 252 Your letter which diverted him not a few.

a1953 H. Belloc Coll. Poems (1958) 136 When Mr Rhys shall hear that you Are in the hands of the police It will disturb him not a few.

c. colloquial. a good few.

(a) Used as noun: a considerable number; also with of-phrase as complement.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > number > plurality > great number, numerousness > [noun] > a large number or multitude

sandc825

thousandc1000

un-i-rimeOE

legiona1325

fernc1325

multitudec1350

hundred1362

abundancec1384

quantityc1390

sight1390

felec1394

manyheada1400

lastc1405

sortc1475

infinityc1480

multiplie1488

numbers1488

power1489

many1525

flock1535

heapa1547

multitudine1547

sort1548

myriads1555

myriads1559

infinite1563

tot-quot1565

dickera1586

multiplea1595

troop1596

multitudes1598

myriad1611

sea-sands1656

plurality1657

a vast many1695

dozen1734

a good few1756

nation1762

vast1793

a wheen (of)1814

swad1828

lot1833

tribe1833

slew1839

such a many1841

right smart1842

a million and one1856

horde1860

a good several1865

sheaf1865

a (bad, good, etc.) sortc1869

immense1872

dunnamuch1875

telephone number1880

umpty1905

dunnamany1906

skit1913

umpteen1919

zillion1922

gang1928

scrillion1935

jillion1942

900 number1977

gazillion1978

fuckload1984

1756 Gen. Evening Post 7 Sept. A Copyhold Estate..with..six measured Acres, of Arable or Pasture Land adjoining to the Premises, and a good few thereunto belonging in the Parish Church of Waltham.

1765 Museum Rusticum 5 229 I have diverse times sown the seed, and have a good few of those trees.

1840 York Herald 11 Apr. Such was the disposition of ‘a good few’ in the town and neighbourhood, that they seemed determined..to render the day one of pleasure.

1975 Economist 11 Jan. 79/2 A good few of the smaller stake-holders in the North Sea are now trying to find buyers so that they can get out.

2002 S. Brett Torso in Town (2003) vi. 46 There are as many theories as I've had hot dinners, and I'm seventy-four, so that's a good few.

(b) Used adjectivally: a considerable number of.

ΚΠ

1769 E. Taylor Lady's, Housewife's, & Cookmaid's Assistant 126 Then put into the pan a good few sliced onions, which fry a light brown.

1865 J. G. Bertram Harvest of Sea iii. 104 As soon as they are able to eat—which is not for a good few days.

1970 T. Murphy Whistle in Dark ii. 35 It's a good few years—It's a long time since we saw you.

2016 Church Times 9 Dec. 18/4 Place inside the freezer for a good few hours until firm.

d. Originally U.S. quite a few.

(a) Used adjectivally: a considerable number of.

ΚΠ

1833 Nolan County (Texas) News 26 Jan. Quite a few White Flat people attended the singing at Trent.

1939 L. Hughes Let. 9 Dec. in Remember me to Harlem (2001) 159 That phase of Harlem's rise to culture and neo-culture seems to be of historical importance and interest to quite a few people.

2014 Providence (Rhode Island) Jrnl. (Nexis) 22 July (News section) 1 I went fishing yesterday afternoon and caught quite a few spotted trout.

(b) Used as noun: a considerable number; also with of-phrase as complement.

ΚΠ

1844 Christian Advocate Apr. 139/5 We were glad to find ‘honorable brethren’, quite a few 'tis true, prepared to go with us.

1883 P. Robinson in Harper's Mag. Oct. 706/1 There's quite a few about among the rocks.

1933 L. Bloomfield Lang. xi. 172 Quite a few of the present-day Indo-European languages agree with English in using an actor-action form as a favorite sentence-type.

2006 S. M. Stirling Sky People ix. 204 Cries of welcome greeted them; quite a few had observed the shot from a distance, and fresh meat was always welcome.

e. colloquial (originally Australian). a fair few.

(a) Used as noun: a considerable number; also with of-phrase as complement.

ΚΠ

1890 Argus (Melbourne) 16 Aug. 12/5 The supply forward comprised dry cows and milkers in about equal proportions, the quality of the milkers being chiefly medium, with a fair few first-class.

1946 Spectator 24 Jan. 116/1 A fair few of them would score a right and left.

2006 L. Welsh Bullet Trick (2007) 77 Glasgow's got a hostelry on every street corner and a fair few in between.

(b) Used adjectivally: a considerable number of.

ΚΠ

1920 Mildura (Victoria) Cultivator 21 Feb. 3/4 It was still the day of bag hut and bough shed occupation and a fair few qualms quivered among the sturdier plantings.

1980 B. Friel Aristocrats in Sel. Plays (1984) 259 That's going back a fair few years now. My Uncle Johnny's dead, too—Jaysus he must be dead thirty years now.

2011 T. Ronald Becoming Nancy (2012) xix. 260 There were also a fair few underage lads knocking about.

P2. With verbs.

a. to be few in number: to consist of only a small number.In quot. 1611 : (of a leader) to have only a small number of supporters.

ΚΠ

a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) II. xviii. lxxxvii. 1238 Pigges of þe secounde sowe ben fewere in nombre.

1481 (a1470) J. Tiptoft tr. Cicero De Amicicia (Caxton) sig. a6^v I speke..of that frendship which is very & parfyght, like to theirs, which haue ben but fewe in nombre deserued, so to be callyd.

1597 R. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Politie v. ii. 5 They of whome God is alltogether vnapprehended, are but few in number.

1611 Bible (King James) Gen. xxxiv. 30 I being few in number .

1788 J. Madison in Federalist Papers xlix. 110 The members of the executive and judiciary departments are few in number.

1863 C. Lyell Geol. Evid. Antiq. Man 4 They may be fewer in number than was supposed.

1944 J. Millar in R. Greenhalgh Pract. Builder x. 344/1 The tools used by the slater are few in number.

2006 W. McDowell Broadcast Television iii. 32 More revenue is generated from selling commercial adjacencies. One nagging problem..is that adjacencies are few in number.

†b. to speak few [compare classical Latin pauca loqui and also to say little at little pron. and n. 1a(b)] : to say little, to utter few words. Obsolete.In quot. a1616: to speak quietly.

ΚΠ

c1425 J. Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) iv. l. 120 (MED) He gan breke oute, & his rancour shewe By certeyn signes, þouȝ he spak but fewe.

1526 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfection iii. sig. SSSi^v Be euer doyng well, and speke but fewe.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry V (1623) iv. i. 66 So, in the Name of Iesu Christ, speake fewer.

c. colloquial (originally Australian and New Zealand). to have a few: to have several alcoholic drinks, esp. so as to become drunk or tipsy. Also (now rare) to have a few in.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > drink > thirst > excess in drinking > [verb (intransitive)] > be drunk

bewetc1400

to be in beer1532

to have one's cap set1546

to have a pot in the pate1655

to be bit by a barn weasel1673

to have been in the sun1770

to have been in the sunshine1818

to have (also get) the sun in one's eyes1841

to have a brick in one's hat1847

stimulate1882

to beer up1892

to be (the) worse for liquor1893

to have a few1903

to have a heat on1912

1903 Truth (Sydney) 12 Apr. 1/6 Senior-sergeant: ‘You're charged with being drunk.’ Female: ‘Guilty on a false oath!’ As she had a few in at the time she was sent to the cells.

1912 M. Sweeney Melbourne's Armageddon 22 He was ‘havin’ a few' with a couple of mates, down in a slum hotel.

1947 ‘A. P. Gaskell’ Big Game 88 They'll probably have a few in by this time too, and boy, would I like to be the same.

1960 M. Spark Ballad of Peckham Rye vii. 150 ‘Nelly's had a few,’ Humphrey said... ‘She's a bit shaky on the pins tonight.’

1968 K. Weatherly Roo Shooter 2/3 The shooter walked fifteen or twenty miles carrying his swag, had a few at the pub, then found somewhere to roll his bluey.

2011 A. Gibbons Act of Love (2012) xviii. 169 Danny was really loud but that was probably because he'd had a few before we met up.

P3. In adverbial phrases.

a. at (the) fewest: at the lowest numerical estimate; at least.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > number > plurality > fewness > [adverb] > at the lowest estimate

at (the) fewestc1450

c1450 (?a1400) Wars Alexander (Ashm.) l. 3738 Of females at þe fewis foure & xx^ti Mille.

1659 H. Norton New-England's Ensigne 59 I have charged upon your account, Fifteen untruths at the fewest in a small Paper.

1793 Bee 3 Apr. 182 One drum only ever needs to be stopped when an accident happens to itself, instead of..five or six almost at the fewest, in the most improved machinery hitherto used.

a1835 M. Scott Cruise of Midge (1836) ii. 33 There we soon were, thirty men at the fewest, struggling and shouting.

1906 Tel.-Herald (Dubuque, Iowa) 1 July 18/7 Five hundred foreigners at fewest have translated them into their own tongues.

1998 Australian (Nexis) 17 Apr. 38 At fewest four significant properties have changed hands..in recent months.

b. in few: in a few words; in short. Now rare.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > conciseness > [adverb] > in short

at a (also one) wordOE

at few wordsOE

shortly1303

in short wordsc1380

oncec1384

in short and plainc1386

in sum?a1425

at short wordsa1450

at short1513

briefly?1521

in a word1522

in one word1522

with a word1522

summa1535

to be short1544

in (the) fine1545

in few1550

summarily1567

in a sum1574

in shorta1577

in brief1609

briefa1616

in a little1623

tout court1747

sans phrase1808

in a nutshell1822

in nuce1854

1550 T. Becon Fortresse of Faythfull sig. H.ii In fewe, they had vitailes home with them, and their money also, with manye precious gyftes.

1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost x. 157 He thus to Eve in few: Say Woman, what is this which thou hast done?

1745 E. Young Consolation 27 In few, to close the Whole, The moral Muse has shadow'd out a Sketch.

1848 J. A. Carlyle tr. Dante Inferno (1849) 71 Who shall tell in few the many fresh pains and travails that I saw?

1929 A. E. Taylor tr. Plato Timaeus 97 We will now remark in few that whichsoever of these is left inert..must needs grow most enfeebled.

2011 Fair Disclosure Newswire (Nexis) 25 Feb. As a result, in few, we have more people inverting the customer base erosion trend both on prepaid and post-paid.

P4. Other phrases.

a. no fewer than: used before a number to emphasize that it is surprisingly large.

ΚΠ

1546 R. Smith Def. Blessed Masse f. xvi It was sowed by the deuyll..longe and many yeres, forsoth no fewer than a thousand and fyue hundred, after that oure sauioure..had sowen the seade of that godlye doctrine.

1652 P. Heylyn Cosmographie i. sig. B5^v The great increase of Sems posteritie came by Jocktan,..the Father of no fewer than thirteen Sons.

1763 H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Painting III. i. 27 No fewer than twenty-eight views.

1824 Austral. (Sydney) 16 Dec. 4 No fewer than 70 eagles..were destroyed within the short space of four months.

1944 Scotsman 12 Jan. 3/3 Customers can have a choice of no fewer than 10 varieties of sandwiches, as well as of pies, savoury cutlets, and cakes.

2006 Total Film Feb. 16/3 Lewis boshed out no fewer than seven books in the series... A trilogy is one thing, but seven of the bleeders?

b. that few: a small number of people or things specified in some way or already indicated; those few. Now rare.

ΚΠ

1564 A. Golding tr. Justinus Hist. Trogus Pompeius xxi. f. 62 They besoughte him, yet at lengthe to restore that fewe that wer left, to the graues of their forefathers.

a1635 R. Sibbes Returning Backslider (1639) xiv. 427 We labour to be of that few that are truely wise and prudent.

1774 Monthly Ledger Aug. 434 I looked round to the right and there saw only a few, but that few seemed to be clothed with the mantle of pleasing simplicity.

1854 Ld. Tennyson To Rev. F. D. Maurice 5 That honest few Who give the Fiend himself his due.

1971 Jrnl. Canad. Stud. 6 58/1 These dreams..produce a society that offers freedom to a few, but that few far greater and wider spread than most other systems of government have managed to create.

c. every few (hours, miles, etc.): once in every small group of (hours, miles, etc.); at intervals of a small number of (hours, miles, etc.); cf. every adj. 1a(c).

ΚΠ

1606 T. Taylor in W. Perkins Godlie & Learned Expos. Epist. Jude Postscript 341 A peccant humor necessarily to be purged out euery fewe yeares, either by murther..or by massacre.

1747 G. Edwards Nat. Hist. Birds II. 103 In its Progression it formed a circular Flourish, turning quite round every few Paces it made.

1825 New Eng. Farmer 8 July 398/2 Prevention..is done by scraping, with a sharp knife, the eggs of the bot-bee from every part of the horse every few days.

1939 Nature 20 May 850/1 ‘Lay-byes’ and ‘drawn-ins’ should be made on every few miles of highway.

2009 J. Kellerman True Detectives xxxv. 356 Jailers doing pass-bys woke him up every few hours with flashlight glare and foot nudges.

d. few and far between: scarce, infrequent.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > number > plurality > fewness > [adjective] > rare

scarce1398

dainty?a1500

rare1555

scant1581

few and far between1668

spare1813

thin on the ground1951

1668 R. Verney Let. in M. M. Verney Mem. Verney Family Restoration to Revol. (1899) iii. 89 Hedges are few and far between.

1799 T. Campbell Pleasures of Hope & Other Poems ii. 375 What though my wingèd hours of bliss have been, Like angel-visits, few and far between?

1875 J. C. Wilcocks Sea-fisherman (ed. 3) 163 The weed becomes very troublesome, and the fish consequently few and far between.

1965 Listener 20 May 759/3 Repair garages which are equally few and far between.

2014 Guardian 18 Sept. (G2 section) 3/2 But such lasting successes are few and far between.

Compounds

Forming parasynthetic adjectives, as few-acred, few-celled, few-flowered, few-layered, few-seeded, few-whorled, etc. [With few-seeded compare scientific Latin pauciflorus (1731 or earlier).]

ΚΠ

1761 J. Hill Veg. Syst. II. iii. iii. 75 (heading) Few-flowered Elfwort.

1799 J. Hull Brit. Flora i. 53 Berry few-seeded.

1847 H. W. Longfellow Evangeline ii. ii. 92 Men and women and children, who..Sought for their kith and their kin among the few-acred farmers On the Acadian coast.

1864 Geologist 7 92 Pleurotomia Jukesii (n. sp.). Few-whorled, subconical,..consisting of five elevated whorls.

1895 Amer. Jrnl. Pharmacy 67 386 The transfusion tissue is few-layered.

1904 Lutheran Observer 29 July 27/1 I always found something busy at its life-work—a bug or a bird, some many-legged or some few-legged animal, even plants.

1957 Music Q. 43 173 At Ferrara, his compositions are mainly in the few-voiced concertato style.

1991 S. J. Gould Bully for Brontosaurus iv. 70 Most early typists used idiosyncratic hunt-and-peck, few-fingered methods.

2002 Indiana Gaz. 28 Dec. 14/2 The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America argued that a few-celled embryo in a laboratory dish doesn't deserve the same protections as a person.

2007 F. Bargiela-Chiappini et al. Business Disc. 233 Finns considered themselves as ‘factual’ and ‘direct’ communicators, while Swedes referred to essentially the same characteristics as ‘blunt’, ‘pushy’, and ‘few-worded’.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2019; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

单词	few
释义	fewadj.pron.n. Brit. /fjuː/, U.S. /fju/ Forms: α. early Old English feoo, Old English fæ- (inflected form, rare), Old English fæaw- (inflected form, rare), Old English fæw- (inflected form), Old English fea, Old English feag- (inflected form, rare), Old English feau- (inflected form, rare), Old English feaw- (in derivatives), Old English weawum (dative plural, transmission error), Old English–early Middle English feawa, Old English–early Middle English feawæ (rare), Old English–1600s feawe, late Old English feæ (Kentish), late Old English feæwæ (Kentish), late Old English feow- (inflected form), late Old English feu- (inflected form), late Old English (rare)–early Middle English fæwe, early Middle English fawe (south-west midlands), early Middle English fæu, early Middle English feaue (south-eastern), early Middle English feuȝe, early Middle English feuwe, early Middle English fiewe (south-west midlands), early Middle English viawe (south-eastern), Middle English feghur (north-west midlands, comparative, in a late copy), Middle English feue, Middle English fewȝ, Middle English feyȝ, Middle English ffewe, Middle English fowe (south-western), Middle English fuwe, Middle English ueawe (south-eastern), Middle English uewe (south-western), Middle English veawe (south-eastern), Middle English vewe (south-western and south-west midlands), Middle English weawe (south-western), Middle English–1600s feaw, Middle English–1600s feu, Middle English–1600s fewe, Middle English– few, 1500s–1600s feowe, 1500s–1600s fiew, 1600s feow, 1600s fev; English regional 1800s faew (Yorkshire), 1800s veaw (south-western), 1800s veo (south-western), 1800s vew (south-western), 1900s– feo (south-west midlands), 1900s– feow (south-west midlands); Scottish pre-1700 feu, pre-1700 feue, pre-1700 fewe, pre-1700 1700s– few, 1800s feou, 1800s feow, 1800s fyour (comparative), 1800s– fyou, 1800s– fyow, 1900s fow; Irish English (Wexford) 1800s vew; N.E.D. (1895) also records a form early Middle English vawe (southern). β. northern, north-east midlands, and East Anglian Middle English fa, Middle English faa, Middle English fo, Middle English foe. γ. northern Middle English fon, Middle English fone, Middle English foyn, Middle English foyne. δ. Chiefly northern Middle English fewne, Middle English foun, Middle English foune, Middle English fune, Middle English fwne. Origin: A word inherited from Germanic. Etymology: Cognate with Old Frisian fē , Old Saxon fahu , Old High German fō , fao , Old Icelandic fár , Old Swedish far (Swedish få ), Danish faa , Gothic fawai (plural) < the same Indo-European base as (with different extensions) ancient Greek παῦρος little, small, classical Latin parvus small, classical Latin paucus few, and probably also ancient Greek παῖς boy, child. In Middle English partly also (in β. forms) < early Scandinavian (compare Old Icelandic fár and other Scandinavian forms listed above).In Old English the word usually appears in the plural (nominative and accusative plural fēawa ; also fēawe , fēa ). Indeclinable use of such forms is also attested, as well as occasional use in constructions with singular agreement (compare later use of the adjective with noun in the singular in senses A. 2b, A. 3). The northern γ. forms apparently show alteration of the β. forms after whon n. and adj. (The α. forms are not attested in the Northumbrian dialect of Old English or in northern Middle English sources before the mid 15th cent.) The δ. forms show a subsequent alteration of the γ. forms after the α. forms. The precise sense of the plural of Old English ān in the constructions with the adjective or the noun that apparently underlie later a few (see senses A. 2a, B. 2a) is not entirely clear. It has been compared with use before collective numerals (compare one adj., n., and pron. Compounds 2a, a adj. 1c), or interpreted as ‘only’ (compare one adj. 5a) or as indicating an approximation (compare a adj. 3a). A. adj. and determiner. 1. Not many; amounting only to a small number. Also preceded by modifying words, esp. but, so, too, very.Without a preceding determiner, as here, few usually implies antithesis with ‘many’.For the use of less to mean fewer in this sense see discussion at less adj. 3. a. Modifying a plural noun either specified or implied by the context. Also after first, last, next; see also last adj. 7a(c).Also, in the comparative, as pronoun, frequently with of-phrase as complement (cf. sense B. 1b). ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > number > plurality > fewness > [adjective] feweOE whonc950 litea1000 littleOE petitc1390 wheenc1400 sobera1535 slim1852 eOE King Ælfred tr. Gregory Pastoral Care (Hatton) (1871) xii. 75 Ac ðis ðæt we nu feam wordum arimdon we willað hwene rumedlicor heræfter areccean. OE Ælfric Homily: De Falsis Diis (Corpus Cambr. 178) in J. C. Pope Homilies of Ælfric (1968) II. 681 Þa hæþenan noldan beon gehealdene on swa feawum godum, ac fengon to wurðianne mislice entas. ?a1160 Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Laud) (Peterborough contin.) anno 1138 Him com togænes Willelm eorl of Albamar..& to [read te] other æuez men mid fæu men. a1225 (c1200) Vices & Virtues (1888) 25 Ðis understandeþ auer to feawe saules. c1300 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Otho) (1978) l. 13311 Leopen to þan Bruttus and feue hii þar nemen. a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) i. l. 1424 (MED) Wher that he fewe frendes hadde. ?a1425 Mandeville's Trav. (Egerton) (1889) 24 In Egipte er bot fewe castelles. a1450 York Plays (1885) 174 (MED) With wordes fewne. 1526 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfection iii. sig. OOv^v The gyfte of prerogatyue called discrecion..is but in fewe persons. 1598 W. Shakespeare Henry IV, Pt. 1 ii. v. 100 That euer this fellowe should haue fewer wordes then a Parrat. View more context for this quotation 1611 Bible (King James) Job xiv. 1 Man that is borne of a woman, is of few dayes. View more context for this quotation 1698 T. Emes Dialogue Alkali & Acid 60 From the Adhesions and Combinations of sometimes more, sometimes fewer of these Simple Particles, all the varieties of mix'd Bodies result. 1734 G. Berkeley Three Dialogues Hylas & Philonous (ed. 3) ii. 259 Few Men think, yet all will have Opinions. 1751 Earl of Orrery Remarks Swift 60 Guilty in so few sentences of so many solecisms. 1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth V. 47 That curiosity very few have an opportunity of gratifying. 1812 Sydney Gaz. 22 Feb. 2/1 The frequent showers of the last few days apprise us of the approach of March. 1845 G. Budd On Dis. Liver 280 Among the numbers of bodies that I examined..very few, indeed hardly any, had gall-stones. 1870 E. Peacock Ralf Skirlaugh II. 189 A man of few words. 1903 Amer. Anthropologist 5 549 With few exceptions the divisions occur in young or adolescent monkeys. 1934 Social Forces 13 71/2 Urban families own still fewer of these possessions except as regards automobiles. 1989 R. MacNeil Wordstruck iv. 119 He despatched my first few balls smartly, earning three runs. 2016 Daily Tel. 3 Feb. 15/5 Increasing numbers of young people live in homes where there are few, if any, books. b. Predicatively. ΚΠ eOE (Mercian) Vespasian Psalter (1965) cviii. 8 Fiant dies eius pauci et episcopatum eius accipiat alter : sien dægas his fea & biscophad his onfoeð oðer. OE Ælfric Catholic Homilies: 2nd Ser. (Cambr. Gg.3.28) xxxv. 301 Ne sind Godes frynd na feawa, ac sind fela swa swa se witega cwæð. a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 8599 Þair clathes was sa gnede and fa. 1483 Catholicon Anglicum (BL Add. 89074) (1881) 129/2 To be Fewe, rarere. a1500 (?c1400) Sir Triamour (Cambr.) (1937) l. 539 (MED) There was fewe that rewyd ther on. 1593 R. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Politie i. ii. 49 It behoueth our wordes to be warie and fewe. 1611 Bible (King James) Deut. vii. 7 Ye were the fewest of all people. View more context for this quotation 1657 S. Purchas Theatre Flying-insects ii. 314 If the Bees be few, [Moths] will breed their blots in their combes. 1711 J. Addison Spectator No. 93. ¶1 We are always Complaining our Days are few. 1764 O. Goldsmith Traveller 11 If few their wants, their pleasures are but few. 1814 Ld. Byron Lara ii. xx. 1248 Her tears were few, her wailing never loud. 1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 441 The gunmakers of Utrecht were found too few to execute the orders. 1909 Auckland Weekly News 29 May 17/4 A few other species are found..; but these are few and scattered. 1967 Bull. Entomol. Res. 57 231 Leaves are fewest and shade is least in September. 2012 Galveston (Texas) Daily News 27 Sept. a12/3 Only three girls turned out for Castleford's girls' squad, one too few to field a formal team. 2. With indefinite article. a. Modifying a plural noun and construed with a plural verb: a small number of.On the sense of Old English ān in this construction, see note in etymology. ΚΠ OE Ælfric Gram. (St. John's Oxf.) 3 Swaswa hit wæs gedon on Angelcynne nu for anum feawum gearum. c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) l. 407 Þe king mid a vewe men him self fleiȝ atte laste. c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) Mark vi. 5 He myȝte not make there ony vertu, no but heelide a fewe sike men. a1425 (?a1400) G. Chaucer Romaunt Rose (Hunterian) (1891) l. 5985 He shal in a fewe stoundes Lese all his markis. c1475 Antichrist & Disciples in J. H. Todd Three Treat. J. Wycklyffe (1851) p. cxxx (MED) Crist laye in a stable bi twix an oxe & an asse & a fewe cloutes..& þei in gay chaumbres..wiþ tapites & qwisschyns spradde al a boute. a1500 (c1477) T. Norton Ordinal of Alchemy (BL Add.) (1975) 96 (MED) My pitee doeth me constrayne To shew the trouth in a few wordis & playne. 1550 Sir R. Morysine Let. 17 Dec. in P. F. Tytler Eng. under Edward VI & Mary (1839) I. 345 I pray you let me now and then have a few lines from you. a1616 W. Shakespeare Cymbeline (1623) iv. ii. 284 Heere's a few Flowres. View more context for this quotation 1667 W. Walker Preciousness Christ 29 Let me put a few Queries into your mouths to ask your selves about this businesse, when you are at your best leisures. 1744 G. Berkeley Siris (ESTC T72826) §82 The..constant use of tar-water for a few weeks. 1796 H. Hunter tr. J.-H. B. de Saint-Pierre Stud. Nature (1799) II. 474 I will deliver my thoughts..in a few words. 1848 S. C. Bartlett Egypt to Palestine (1879) x. 220 One rock a few feet square. 1891 H. H. Peerless Diary 23 July (2003) 2 For a poor dinner of cold mutton, a few potatoes, pickled walnuts and two lemon-and-dashes they had the audacity to charge us seven shillings. 1936 Quill & Quire Oct. 14/1 I should like to clear the atmosphere with a few simple facts. 1967 A. L. Rowse Diary 1 July (2003) 411 There were still a few bits of old china about: one fine eighteenth-century bureau full of coloured Worcester. 2008 Vanity Fair Oct. 230/2 The men..rigged up a small generator for a few hours of electricity. b. Modifying a mass noun treated as a plural count noun: (of quantity) not much, a little. Chiefly in a few broth, a few gruel, a few porridge. English regional and Scottish in later use.The nouns broth and porridge frequently occur with plural agreement in English regional and Scottish varieties that show this construction. ΚΠ 1551 T. Lever Serm. xiiii. December (new ed.) sig. E.ii^v Hauyng a fewe porage made of the brothe of the same byefe. 1607 E. Topsell Hist. Foure-footed Beastes 253 Broath..to sup now and then a fewe. 1675 T. Powell Young Mans Confl. with Devil ii. 56 A poor Small-coal-man..was going along the streets, who was measuring of a few Small-coal to one of his Customers. 1752 W. Chaigneau Hist. Jack Connor II. ix. 114 He's very fond of a few broth. 1803 S. Pegge Anecd. Eng. Lang. (1844) xvi. 181 ‘Stay a few while,’ a Londoner says. 1825 J. T. Brockett Gloss. North Country Words (at cited word) A ‘little few broth’. 1893 in H. T. Cozens-Hardy Broad Norfolk (Eastern Daily Press) 60 Go home and have a few gruel or broth to keep the cold out. 1904 Acad. & Lit. 23 July 56/1 In many places in Scotland, and almost everywhere in England, I have heard it used as having a plural signification. For example: ‘Make a few porridge’. 1997 J. Whinray Down 'long weth We 27 We'd a fine denar sure enough; a few broth,..a starry-gazey pie, and a thoomping figgy pudden. 3. Of a company or number: small. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > number > plurality > fewness > [adjective] > containing few members littleOE few?a1425 small?a1439 thin1508 short1681 ?a1425 (c1400) Mandeville's Trav. (Titus C.xvi) (1919) 148 The Chane rood with a fewe meynee [?a1425 Egerton a lytill cumpany; Fr. a poy de compaignie]. c1475 (?c1451) Bk. Noblesse (Royal) (1860) 27 He saw so few a companie of the Romains. 1531 T. Elyot Bk. named Gouernour i. xviii. sig. Jvii A few nombre of houndes. a1600 R. Lindsay Hist. & Cron. Scotl. (1899) I. 281 The earle of Angus was come..and bot ane few number witht him. c1610 J. Melville Mem. Own Life (1735) 13 He..did ride to the Parties himself with a few company. 1711 J. Swift Let. 19 July in Wks. (1768) XVIII. 14 There was a drawing-room to-day..but so few company, that [etc.]. 1779 J. Curry Elem. Bleaching 30 Only a very few number of figures can be united, so as to produce a figure exactly of the same shape. 1828 C. Wordsworth King Charles I 133 Their number assuredly has not been few. 1870 Royal Comm. Inq. Primary Educ. Ireland III. 539/1 in Parl. Papers (C. 6-II) But the former failed, and they withdrew it,..in consequence of the very few number in attendance. 1904 Amer Wool & Cotton Reporter 4 Aug. 827/2 As their number was few there was little doubt but that all the garments would be sold. 1996 R. S. Carney in R. J. Schmitt & C. W. Osenberg Detecting Ecol. Impacts xv. 300 The number of samples having a very large number of specimens is..roughly equal to the number of samples having a very few number of specimens. B. pron. and n. I. Pronoun uses. 1. a. Not many people or things; only a small number.In earlier use frequently in, or with allusion to, the biblical phrase many are called but few are chosen (Matthew 20:16). ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > number > plurality > fewness > [noun] > few people fewOE OE Beowulf (2008) 3061 Weard ær ofsloh feara sumne; þa sio fæhð gewearð gewrecen wraðlice. OE West Saxon Gospels: Matt. (Corpus Cambr.) xx. 16 Soþlice manega synt geclypede & feawa [OE Rushw. Gospels feawe; L. pauci] gecorene. c1225 (?c1200) St. Katherine (Royal) (1981) l. 441 For nis him no derure forto adweschen feole þen fewe. c1275 Kentish Serm. in J. Hall Select. Early Middle Eng. (1920) I. 221 Fele bieþ i clepede, ac feaue bieþ i cornee. c1350 (a1333) William of Shoreham Poems (1902) 15 (MED) So feawe stondeþ styf To fytte aȝenis senne. c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) Matt. xx. 16 For many ben clepid, bot few chosun. a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 8496 Fa it wist quat it wald mene. 1484 W. Caxton tr. Subtyl Historyes & Fables Esope (1967) i. 193 Many one ben frendes of wordes only, but fewe ben in faytte or dede. a1500 (?c1400) Sir Triamour (Cambr.) (1937) l. 540 Fewe for hym wepyth. 1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry VI f. clxj Many sought for him, but few espied hym. 1589 W. Warner Albions Eng. (new ed.) vi. xxx. 132 Few will iudge, I winne, If it shall come in question, that to Cockhole [1612 cuckhole] him were sinne. 1653 H. Holcroft tr. Procopius Persian Wars i. 8 in tr. Procopius Hist. Warres Justinian The Enemy..entring the Town by few at a time. 1706 D. Defoe Jure Divino viii. 30 Those wild, unhappy, Self-defending Few, If not destroy'd in Time, will ravel all the Clew. 1841 N.-Y. Mirror 18 Dec. 411/2 Few were in the castle save untrained lacqueys. 1879 E. Warne Dusky Rambles 25 To guard 'gainst its danger there be few Like the mate—and brave sailorette. 1928 Lawn Tennis & Badminton 23 June 255/2 Few could have foreseen that the two doubles would have been the ‘stone certainties’ for Britain that they proved to be. 1995 Times 9 June 17/2 Without the crowds..few are economic, and many are now a drain on municipal resources. 2007 New Yorker 30 July 32/1 Few would deny that the past year was deeply unnerving. b. With of-phrase as complement.In Old English chiefly with partitive genitive; cf. quots. eOE, OE¹. In early use with of, sometimes difficult to distinguish from use with of-phrase as complement of the verb (cf. of prep. 29). ΚΠ eOE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Parker) anno 914 Þa slog hie mon æt ægþrum cirre, þæt hira feawa onweg comon. OE West Saxon Gospels: Matt. (Corpus Cambr.) ix. 37 Witodlice micel rip ys & feawa wyrhtyna. OE Byrhtferð Enchiridion (Ashm.) (1995) ii. iii. 120 Swylce ic of manegum feawa hrepige. c1175 ( Ælfric Homily (Bodl. 343) in S. Irvine Old Eng. Homilies (1993) 24 To feawæ of þam folce ilyfdon. ?a1400 (a1338) R. Mannyng Chron. (Petyt) (1996) ii. l. 5834 He went to play a wile with fo of his banere. c1440 Prose Life Alexander (Thornton) (1913) 65 (MED) He fande..veselles..sum of Suluere..Bot þare were bot fewe of þam of Siluere. 1526 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfection i. sig. Dviii Fewe of them..miscaried. 1579 S. Gosson Schoole of Abuse f. 29 They..returne home by weeping Crosse, and fewe of them come to an honest ende. 1604 E. Grimeston tr. J. de Acosta Nat. & Morall Hist. Indies i. xxi. 70 There are few of those beastes, which at Peru they call Guancos. 1666 J. Davies tr. C. de Rochefort Hist. Caribby-Islands vii. 39 There are few of the Islands but afford good Trees for the Carpenters and Joyners-Work. 1738 J. Hoofnail New Pract. Improvem. Exper. Colours xlix. 53 There are many other Vegetables..from which Yellow Colours can be produced..; but few of them are fine and lasting. 1781 H. H. Kames Loose Hints upon Educ. i. 34 Few of the lower sort ever think of disciplining their children to obedience. 1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 445 Few of the members of the late cabinet had any reason to expect his favour. 1875 A. Helps Aids Contentm. in Ess. 11 How few of your fellow-creatures can have the opportunity. 1928 Melody Maker Nov. 1193/3 Its rhythm had all the faults and few of the good points of the heavy ‘Palais’ style. 1975 L. Perl Slumps, Grunts, & Snickerdoodles xv. 117 We know that few of the wealthy rural squires of the American South bothered to conceal their fondness for imbibing. 2012 FourFourTwo Oct. 84/1 It maintains a cult status with fans that few of its contemporaries are able to match. II. Noun uses. 2. With indefinite article. a. A small number of people or things. Also with modifying adjective, as a faithful few, a select few, etc. ΚΠ OE Ælfric Catholic Homilies: 2nd Ser. (Bodl. 340) xi. 94 On ðam ænlipium he gesette twelf munecas, and ane feawa he geheold mid him sylfum. c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) l. 8362 An vewe wiþ sunne of lecherie Mowe binime grace of god to al an compaynie. c1380 Sir Ferumbras (1879) l. 953 Al þe feldes þo wern y-fuld of dede men on þe grounde, Saue an vewe þat leye & ȝulde. a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 19782 He badd þa men be all vte-don, þat in þat hus left bot a fon. c1450 (?a1400) Wars Alexander (Ashm.) l. 2061 Fra his faes with a fewe þe filde to de-voide. 1533 T. More Apologye xxii. 134 With perusyng after this fashyon of a fewe, there was none that one man named,..but fyue for that one reiected hym. a1568 R. Ascham Scholemaster (1570) ii. f. 56 In euerie separate kinde of learnyng and studie..ye must follow, choselie a few, and chieflie some one. a1616 W. Shakespeare All's Well that ends Well (1623) i. i. 61 Loue all, trust a few, Doe wrong to none. View more context for this quotation 1650 J. Dury Reformed Librarie-keeper 26 It [sc. the Librarie of Heidelberg] was ingrossed into the hands of a few, till it became a Prey unto the Enemies of the Truth. 1723 A. Pope Corr. Aug. (1956) II. 186 To pass my days with you, & a few such as you. 1775 S. Johnson Taxation No Tyranny 60 The whole town of Boston is distressed for the misdemeanour of a few. 1801 R. Southey Thalaba I. i. 55 A faithful few Prest thro' the throng to join him. 1880 L. Wallace Ben Hur iii. iv. 153 A few were biremes, the rest stout triremes. 1947 Clearing House 21 429/1 My class was unusually apathetic. Nevertheless, there were a few who were alert. 1993 Albuquerque (New Mexico) Jrnl. 25 Jan. (Business Outlook section) 27 (advt.) MBA Programs are not all created equal. A select few are granted national accreditation. 2003 J. R. Lennon Mailman i. iv. 209 A few have ‘dressed down’ and wear shorts and golf shirts; others are in suit and tie. b. With of-phrase as complement. A small number of.In quot. OE with plural of Old English ān and partitive genitive. In early use (e.g. in quot. c1175) with of, sometimes difficult to distinguish from use with of-phrase as complement of the verb (cf. of prep. 29). ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > number > plurality > fewness > [noun] > few, not many whonc950 liteOE fewOE wheenc1400 penny number1845 the world > relative properties > quantity > smallness of quantity, amount, or degree > [noun] > a small quantity or amount > some but not much fewOE a little1540 something1654 curn1785 OE Seven Sleepers (Julius) (1994) 54 Ic hæbbe ful gehende ane feawa geferena; hi synd her geond on þam scræfe æt Celian dune. c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 19764 Ure laferrd crist..haffde off iudewisshe follc. Himm chosenn ane fæwe. a1500 (a1460) Towneley Plays (1994) I. xiii. 138 I shall say thertyll Of good wordys a foyne. 1589 T. Nashe To Students in R. Greene Menaphon Epist. sig. *3 A few of our triuiall translators. 1629 (title) Essex doue, presenting the world with a few of her olive-branches. 1676 A. Marvell Mr. Smirke* sig. E2^v A Few of the Few..have been carrying on a constant Conspiracy. 1722 D. Defoe Jrnl. Plague Year 23 I shall Name but a few of these Things; but sure they were so many. 1772 T. Nugent tr. P. J. Grosley Tour to London I. 44 Which casual appearance [of the sun] procures the Londoners a few of what they call glorious days. 1818 W. James Full & Correct Acct. Late War Great Brit. & U.S.A. II. xii. 67 A few of the boldest of the anti-government party stood up to undeceive the public. 1869 J. Greenwood Seven Curses London 246 Let us here enumerate a few of the ingredients with which the beer-shop keeper re-brews his beer. 1945 Pittsburgh Courier 24 Feb. 14 A few of his boys are trouble-making screw-ups who drink too much. 2012 N.Y. Times Mag. 12 Aug. 23/1 A few of the kids now take hormone blockers. A few others have come out as gay. 3. With the or a demonstrative determiner (e.g. these, those) and plural agreement. a. Often with modifying adjective: a small specified body of people. Also (esp. in later use): the minority; often opposed to the many (see many pron. and n. 7). ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > number > plurality > fewness > [noun] > minority feweOE minority1716 eOE tr. Orosius Hist. (BL Add.) (1980) ii. viii. 52 Þa feawan þe þær to lafe wurdon gesealdon m punda goldes wið heora feore. a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) I. ii. xx. 89 Þese fewe of ful many propirtees of euel spiritis and of þe effect of hem schal suffise for to passe schortliche. a1525 Eng. Conquest Ireland (Trin. Dublin) (1896) 20 (MED) So that the slaght of þese fewe be ferdnesse to many & be ensample of these al other out-lond men to be adrede. 1549 M. Coverdale et al. tr. Erasmus Paraphr. Newe Test. II. 2 Cor. v. f. xvii^v They are but fewe, but onles ye auoyde the same fewes companie. 1603 T. Winter tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Second Day of First Weeke 40 Those few, whose setled confidence Is anchored on thy sacred prouidence. 1676 A. Marvell Mr. Smirke sig. E2^v A Few of the Few..have been carrying on a constant Conspiracy. 1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Æneis ix, in tr. Virgil Wks. 471 The wakeful few, the fuming Flaggon ply. 1733 J. Bramston Man of Taste 5 Strife still persists, which yields the better goût; Books or the world, the many or the few. 1777 J. Priestley Disquis. Matter & Spirit Pref. p. xvi The favour of the few may silence the clamour of the many. 1824 J. S. Mill in Westm. Rev. 2 347 When romance assumes the garb of history,..it infallibly allies itself with the sinister interests of the few. 1875 B. Jowett in tr. Plato Dialogues (ed. 2) III. 183 A life not for the many, but for the few. 1941 Music Educators Jrnl. 27 14/2 Similar periods of artistic richness in the past have been essentially aristocratic processes—the making of music by the talented few for the privileged few. 1977 Times 8 Feb. 17/1 The philistines would be foolish to regard aid for the arts merely as a perk provided by all for the esoteric pursuits of the few. 2003 T. Vanhanen Democratization (2004) ii. 28 Briefly defined, democracy is the government of the many, and autocracy the government of the few. b. Chiefly with capital initial. (An informal title of respect for) the Royal Air Force pilots who took part in the Battle of Britain in 1940, during the Second World War. [In allusion to a speech of Winston Churchill (see Churchillian adj.³): see quot. 1940.] ΘΚΠ society > armed hostility > hostilities in the air > airman > [noun] > fighter pilot > pilots in the Battle of Britain few1941 1940 W. S. Churchill Into Battle (1941) 259 Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.] 1941 Illustr. London News 19 Apr. 518/1 In the above series of portraits,..the artist..shows characteristic types of those few to whom ‘so many owe so much’. 1943 N.Y. Times 16 Sept. 14/2 (headline) Britain honors ‘the few’. 1978 Jrnl. Royal Soc. Arts 126 25/2 The scientists.., together with the Few, had saved Britain in 1940 when everything appeared lost. 2012 P. Mason How Washington fleeced Nation iv. 137 The Battle of Britain, when ‘The Few’ defended the island homeland from the Nazi air onslaught, was certainly the most decisive battle in the early phase of the war. †4. colloquial or slang (ironic). With indefinite article. [Perhaps compare little pron. and n. 4 and also French un peu a bit.] a. Used adverbially: to a considerable extent or degree; quite a bit. Cf. Phrases 1b(c). Obsolete. ΚΠ 1756 F. Greville & F. Greville Maxims, Characters, & Refl. 19 He bustles and bestirs himself a few. 1763 A. Murphy Citizen ii. i. 26 I..throw my eyes about a few. 1807 Salmagundi 27 June 233 He was determined to astonish the natives a few! 1865 J. R. Lowell Lett. (1894) I. 347 I am..a little few (un petit peu) vexed. 1911 Cosmopolitan July 215/1 Say, we went a few, didn't we? Smoke, I don't mind tellin' you in confidence that before we started I was the gosh-dangdest scaredest man this side of the Rocky Mountains. b. A considerable amount or quantity. Also with modifier. Obsolete. rare. ΚΠ ?1856 F. E. Smedley Harry Coverdale's Courtship v. 26 ‘Can you sit a leap?’ ‘I believe you, rayther, just a very few.’ 1857 C. Kingsley Two Years Ago III. vii. 217 If one man in a town has pluck and money, he may do it. It'll cost him a few. Phrases P1. With preceding modifier. a. some few. (a) Used adjectivally: some but not a considerable number of.In quot. a1642: some but not a considerable quantity of. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > number > plurality > fewness > [noun] > a small number of some fewOE puckleOE a litec1290 couple1365 a…or twoa1400 handfulc1443 a wheen (of)1487 and odd1548 sprinkling1561 pair1611 scattering1628 sprinkle1754 OE Ælfric Catholic Homilies: 1st Ser. (Royal) (1997) xxvii. 401 Wunede þa sume feawa daga mid þam Godes þeowan binnon þære byrig. lOE St. Giles (Corpus Cambr. 303) (1980) 124 Wunode þa get mid him sume feawe [L. aliquot] dagas. 1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 150 Some fewe sentences whiche the lernar shall fynde before the begynnyng of the sayd vocabulyst. a1642 H. Best Farming & Memorandum Bks. (1984) 71 A pecke..of malte and some few honey. 1747 S. Fielding Familiar Lett. David Simple II. xxxviii. 243 There being some few Women, who cannot admire..the Object of Mens Admiration. 1876 J. Saunders Lion in Path iii He went straight on to the noble palace that had been placed at the service of James II some few years before. 1992 Hist. Jrnl. 35 766 Easter fell on 30 March in 1483, some few days before Edward IV's death. (b) Used as noun: some but not a considerable number; also with of-phrase as complement. ΚΠ 1533 T. More Apologye xxxvi. f. 195 This pacifyer..hath ben ther by persuaded to thynke that many other folke sayde and knewe the thynge that some few told hym for very treuth. a1681 J. Lacy Sr. Hercules Buffoon v. 111 in Dramatic Wks. (1875) 294 Jud. He is the first subject that ever made himself a Knight. Her. Not by some few, my lord. 1737 J. Drummond Mem. Locheill (1842) 127 He made some few of them prissoners. 1840 Western Farmer & Gardener Oct. 16/1 We have apples, pears, and peaches..; some few are good, but by far the greater part unworthy of garden room. 1991 Jrnl. Cryptol. 3 109 Imagine a company that deals with large numbers of documents each day, some few of which are later found to be incriminating. 2004 J. P. Gee Situated Lang. & Learning Introd. 1 Some feared I would continue... Some few might have hoped I would continue. b. not a few. (a) Used adjectivally: a considerable number of. ΚΠ ?1477 Lydgate’s Horse, Ghoos, & Sheep (Caxton) Cam to fore calais with flemyngis not a fewe. ?1510 T. More tr. G. F. Pico della Mirandola Lyfe I. Picus sig. a.iiii Yet lakked they erudition and lernynge: which questions: notwith stonding by fore that not a few famous doctours of diuinite had..subscribed their names vndre them. 1665 T. H. Exact Surv. Affaires Netherlands 169 About which matter there are not a few blastings and Factions. 1794 J. Stele Ess. Manufacturing Milk into Butter & Cheese 104 Not a few considerable farmers have no other milk nor cheese house than their barn. 1843 T. J. Graham Cold-water Syst. (ed. 2) 5 There are not a few diseases in which the skilful physician will be far more successful..than the most perfect hydropath. 1970 N. Armstrong et al. First on Moon ii. 42 There was so much partying that not a few people wondered about the size of the national hangover. 2010 Independent 4 Nov. (Viewspaper section) 4/5 The Tea Party..joins together Independents, Republicans and not a few Democrats. (b) Used as noun: a considerable number; also with of-phrase as complement. ΚΠ 1533 T. More Debellacyon Salem & Bizance ii. xvi. f. lxxvi^v I am very sure there be not a fewe that haue herd suche euydence. 1668 J. Beale Let. 27 June in H. Oldenburg Corr. (1967) IV. 474 Wee have often discoursed & found yt some others, perhaps not a few of ye R S, are somewt unfriendly. 1780 J. Brett tr. B. J. Feijóo y Montenegro Ess. II. xvii. 167 Among the professors of literature, there are not a few, who make themselves unpleasant companions. 1876 Encycl. Brit. V. 209/2 Not a few of the slabs..bearing a pagan inscription on one side, and a Christian one on the other. These are known as opisthographs. 1933 Bulletin (Sydney) 1 Nov. 11/1 A John Hop who has helped to deal with many ‘methos.’ tells me not a few prefer petrol. 2009 Art Q. Winter 61/1 Not a few of those [artists] usually overlooked by books like this are given their money's worth. (c) Used adverbially: considerably. rare. ΚΠ 1778 S. Burney Let. July in F. Burney Early Diary (1889) II. 252 Your letter which diverted him not a few. a1953 H. Belloc Coll. Poems (1958) 136 When Mr Rhys shall hear that you Are in the hands of the police It will disturb him not a few. c. colloquial. a good few. (a) Used as noun: a considerable number; also with of-phrase as complement. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > number > plurality > great number, numerousness > [noun] > a large number or multitude sandc825 thousandc1000 un-i-rimeOE legiona1325 fernc1325 multitudec1350 hundred1362 abundancec1384 quantityc1390 sight1390 felec1394 manyheada1400 lastc1405 sortc1475 infinityc1480 multiplie1488 numbers1488 power1489 many1525 flock1535 heapa1547 multitudine1547 sort1548 myriads1555 myriads1559 infinite1563 tot-quot1565 dickera1586 multiplea1595 troop1596 multitudes1598 myriad1611 sea-sands1656 plurality1657 a vast many1695 dozen1734 a good few1756 nation1762 vast1793 a wheen (of)1814 swad1828 lot1833 tribe1833 slew1839 such a many1841 right smart1842 a million and one1856 horde1860 a good several1865 sheaf1865 a (bad, good, etc.) sortc1869 immense1872 dunnamuch1875 telephone number1880 umpty1905 dunnamany1906 skit1913 umpteen1919 zillion1922 gang1928 scrillion1935 jillion1942 900 number1977 gazillion1978 fuckload1984 1756 Gen. Evening Post 7 Sept. A Copyhold Estate..with..six measured Acres, of Arable or Pasture Land adjoining to the Premises, and a good few thereunto belonging in the Parish Church of Waltham. 1765 Museum Rusticum 5 229 I have diverse times sown the seed, and have a good few of those trees. 1840 York Herald 11 Apr. Such was the disposition of ‘a good few’ in the town and neighbourhood, that they seemed determined..to render the day one of pleasure. 1975 Economist 11 Jan. 79/2 A good few of the smaller stake-holders in the North Sea are now trying to find buyers so that they can get out. 2002 S. Brett Torso in Town (2003) vi. 46 There are as many theories as I've had hot dinners, and I'm seventy-four, so that's a good few. (b) Used adjectivally: a considerable number of. ΚΠ 1769 E. Taylor Lady's, Housewife's, & Cookmaid's Assistant 126 Then put into the pan a good few sliced onions, which fry a light brown. 1865 J. G. Bertram Harvest of Sea iii. 104 As soon as they are able to eat—which is not for a good few days. 1970 T. Murphy Whistle in Dark ii. 35 It's a good few years—It's a long time since we saw you. 2016 Church Times 9 Dec. 18/4 Place inside the freezer for a good few hours until firm. d. Originally U.S. quite a few. (a) Used adjectivally: a considerable number of. ΚΠ 1833 Nolan County (Texas) News 26 Jan. Quite a few White Flat people attended the singing at Trent. 1939 L. Hughes Let. 9 Dec. in Remember me to Harlem (2001) 159 That phase of Harlem's rise to culture and neo-culture seems to be of historical importance and interest to quite a few people. 2014 Providence (Rhode Island) Jrnl. (Nexis) 22 July (News section) 1 I went fishing yesterday afternoon and caught quite a few spotted trout. (b) Used as noun: a considerable number; also with of-phrase as complement. ΚΠ 1844 Christian Advocate Apr. 139/5 We were glad to find ‘honorable brethren’, quite a few 'tis true, prepared to go with us. 1883 P. Robinson in Harper's Mag. Oct. 706/1 There's quite a few about among the rocks. 1933 L. Bloomfield Lang. xi. 172 Quite a few of the present-day Indo-European languages agree with English in using an actor-action form as a favorite sentence-type. 2006 S. M. Stirling Sky People ix. 204 Cries of welcome greeted them; quite a few had observed the shot from a distance, and fresh meat was always welcome. e. colloquial (originally Australian). a fair few. (a) Used as noun: a considerable number; also with of-phrase as complement. ΚΠ 1890 Argus (Melbourne) 16 Aug. 12/5 The supply forward comprised dry cows and milkers in about equal proportions, the quality of the milkers being chiefly medium, with a fair few first-class. 1946 Spectator 24 Jan. 116/1 A fair few of them would score a right and left. 2006 L. Welsh Bullet Trick (2007) 77 Glasgow's got a hostelry on every street corner and a fair few in between. (b) Used adjectivally: a considerable number of. ΚΠ 1920 Mildura (Victoria) Cultivator 21 Feb. 3/4 It was still the day of bag hut and bough shed occupation and a fair few qualms quivered among the sturdier plantings. 1980 B. Friel Aristocrats in Sel. Plays (1984) 259 That's going back a fair few years now. My Uncle Johnny's dead, too—Jaysus he must be dead thirty years now. 2011 T. Ronald Becoming Nancy (2012) xix. 260 There were also a fair few underage lads knocking about. P2. With verbs. a. to be few in number: to consist of only a small number.In quot. 1611 : (of a leader) to have only a small number of supporters. ΚΠ a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) II. xviii. lxxxvii. 1238 Pigges of þe secounde sowe ben fewere in nombre. 1481 (a1470) J. Tiptoft tr. Cicero De Amicicia (Caxton) sig. a6^v I speke..of that frendship which is very & parfyght, like to theirs, which haue ben but fewe in nombre deserued, so to be callyd. 1597 R. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Politie v. ii. 5 They of whome God is alltogether vnapprehended, are but few in number. 1611 Bible (King James) Gen. xxxiv. 30 I being few in number . View more context for this quotation 1788 J. Madison in Federalist Papers xlix. 110 The members of the executive and judiciary departments are few in number. 1863 C. Lyell Geol. Evid. Antiq. Man 4 They may be fewer in number than was supposed. 1944 J. Millar in R. Greenhalgh Pract. Builder x. 344/1 The tools used by the slater are few in number. 2006 W. McDowell Broadcast Television iii. 32 More revenue is generated from selling commercial adjacencies. One nagging problem..is that adjacencies are few in number. †b. to speak few [compare classical Latin pauca loqui and also to say little at little pron. and n. 1a(b)] : to say little, to utter few words. Obsolete.In quot. a1616: to speak quietly. ΚΠ c1425 J. Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) iv. l. 120 (MED) He gan breke oute, & his rancour shewe By certeyn signes, þouȝ he spak but fewe. 1526 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfection iii. sig. SSSi^v Be euer doyng well, and speke but fewe. a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry V (1623) iv. i. 66 So, in the Name of Iesu Christ, speake fewer. c. colloquial (originally Australian and New Zealand). to have a few: to have several alcoholic drinks, esp. so as to become drunk or tipsy. Also (now rare) to have a few in. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > drink > thirst > excess in drinking > [verb (intransitive)] > be drunk bewetc1400 to be in beer1532 to have one's cap set1546 to have a pot in the pate1655 to be bit by a barn weasel1673 to have been in the sun1770 to have been in the sunshine1818 to have (also get) the sun in one's eyes1841 to have a brick in one's hat1847 stimulate1882 to beer up1892 to be (the) worse for liquor1893 to have a few1903 to have a heat on1912 1903 Truth (Sydney) 12 Apr. 1/6 Senior-sergeant: ‘You're charged with being drunk.’ Female: ‘Guilty on a false oath!’ As she had a few in at the time she was sent to the cells. 1912 M. Sweeney Melbourne's Armageddon 22 He was ‘havin’ a few' with a couple of mates, down in a slum hotel. 1947 ‘A. P. Gaskell’ Big Game 88 They'll probably have a few in by this time too, and boy, would I like to be the same. 1960 M. Spark Ballad of Peckham Rye vii. 150 ‘Nelly's had a few,’ Humphrey said... ‘She's a bit shaky on the pins tonight.’ 1968 K. Weatherly Roo Shooter 2/3 The shooter walked fifteen or twenty miles carrying his swag, had a few at the pub, then found somewhere to roll his bluey. 2011 A. Gibbons Act of Love (2012) xviii. 169 Danny was really loud but that was probably because he'd had a few before we met up. P3. In adverbial phrases. a. at (the) fewest: at the lowest numerical estimate; at least. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > number > plurality > fewness > [adverb] > at the lowest estimate at (the) fewestc1450 c1450 (?a1400) Wars Alexander (Ashm.) l. 3738 Of females at þe fewis foure & xx^ti Mille. 1659 H. Norton New-England's Ensigne 59 I have charged upon your account, Fifteen untruths at the fewest in a small Paper. 1793 Bee 3 Apr. 182 One drum only ever needs to be stopped when an accident happens to itself, instead of..five or six almost at the fewest, in the most improved machinery hitherto used. a1835 M. Scott Cruise of Midge (1836) ii. 33 There we soon were, thirty men at the fewest, struggling and shouting. 1906 Tel.-Herald (Dubuque, Iowa) 1 July 18/7 Five hundred foreigners at fewest have translated them into their own tongues. 1998 Australian (Nexis) 17 Apr. 38 At fewest four significant properties have changed hands..in recent months. b. in few: in a few words; in short. Now rare. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > conciseness > [adverb] > in short at a (also one) wordOE at few wordsOE shortly1303 in short wordsc1380 oncec1384 in short and plainc1386 in sum?a1425 at short wordsa1450 at short1513 briefly?1521 in a word1522 in one word1522 with a word1522 summa1535 to be short1544 in (the) fine1545 in few1550 summarily1567 in a sum1574 in shorta1577 in brief1609 briefa1616 in a little1623 tout court1747 sans phrase1808 in a nutshell1822 in nuce1854 1550 T. Becon Fortresse of Faythfull sig. H.ii In fewe, they had vitailes home with them, and their money also, with manye precious gyftes. 1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost x. 157 He thus to Eve in few: Say Woman, what is this which thou hast done? View more context for this quotation 1745 E. Young Consolation 27 In few, to close the Whole, The moral Muse has shadow'd out a Sketch. 1848 J. A. Carlyle tr. Dante Inferno (1849) 71 Who shall tell in few the many fresh pains and travails that I saw? 1929 A. E. Taylor tr. Plato Timaeus 97 We will now remark in few that whichsoever of these is left inert..must needs grow most enfeebled. 2011 Fair Disclosure Newswire (Nexis) 25 Feb. As a result, in few, we have more people inverting the customer base erosion trend both on prepaid and post-paid. P4. Other phrases. a. no fewer than: used before a number to emphasize that it is surprisingly large. ΚΠ 1546 R. Smith Def. Blessed Masse f. xvi It was sowed by the deuyll..longe and many yeres, forsoth no fewer than a thousand and fyue hundred, after that oure sauioure..had sowen the seade of that godlye doctrine. 1652 P. Heylyn Cosmographie i. sig. B5^v The great increase of Sems posteritie came by Jocktan,..the Father of no fewer than thirteen Sons. 1763 H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Painting III. i. 27 No fewer than twenty-eight views. 1824 Austral. (Sydney) 16 Dec. 4 No fewer than 70 eagles..were destroyed within the short space of four months. 1944 Scotsman 12 Jan. 3/3 Customers can have a choice of no fewer than 10 varieties of sandwiches, as well as of pies, savoury cutlets, and cakes. 2006 Total Film Feb. 16/3 Lewis boshed out no fewer than seven books in the series... A trilogy is one thing, but seven of the bleeders? b. that few: a small number of people or things specified in some way or already indicated; those few. Now rare. ΚΠ 1564 A. Golding tr. Justinus Hist. Trogus Pompeius xxi. f. 62 They besoughte him, yet at lengthe to restore that fewe that wer left, to the graues of their forefathers. a1635 R. Sibbes Returning Backslider (1639) xiv. 427 We labour to be of that few that are truely wise and prudent. 1774 Monthly Ledger Aug. 434 I looked round to the right and there saw only a few, but that few seemed to be clothed with the mantle of pleasing simplicity. 1854 Ld. Tennyson To Rev. F. D. Maurice 5 That honest few Who give the Fiend himself his due. 1971 Jrnl. Canad. Stud. 6 58/1 These dreams..produce a society that offers freedom to a few, but that few far greater and wider spread than most other systems of government have managed to create. c. every few (hours, miles, etc.): once in every small group of (hours, miles, etc.); at intervals of a small number of (hours, miles, etc.); cf. every adj. 1a(c). ΚΠ 1606 T. Taylor in W. Perkins Godlie & Learned Expos. Epist. Jude Postscript 341 A peccant humor necessarily to be purged out euery fewe yeares, either by murther..or by massacre. 1747 G. Edwards Nat. Hist. Birds II. 103 In its Progression it formed a circular Flourish, turning quite round every few Paces it made. 1825 New Eng. Farmer 8 July 398/2 Prevention..is done by scraping, with a sharp knife, the eggs of the bot-bee from every part of the horse every few days. 1939 Nature 20 May 850/1 ‘Lay-byes’ and ‘drawn-ins’ should be made on every few miles of highway. 2009 J. Kellerman True Detectives xxxv. 356 Jailers doing pass-bys woke him up every few hours with flashlight glare and foot nudges. d. few and far between: scarce, infrequent. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > number > plurality > fewness > [adjective] > rare scarce1398 dainty?a1500 rare1555 scant1581 few and far between1668 few and far between1668 spare1813 thin on the ground1951 1668 R. Verney Let. in M. M. Verney Mem. Verney Family Restoration to Revol. (1899) iii. 89 Hedges are few and far between. 1799 T. Campbell Pleasures of Hope & Other Poems ii. 375 What though my wingèd hours of bliss have been, Like angel-visits, few and far between? 1875 J. C. Wilcocks Sea-fisherman (ed. 3) 163 The weed becomes very troublesome, and the fish consequently few and far between. 1965 Listener 20 May 759/3 Repair garages which are equally few and far between. 2014 Guardian 18 Sept. (G2 section) 3/2 But such lasting successes are few and far between. Compounds Forming parasynthetic adjectives, as few-acred, few-celled, few-flowered, few-layered, few-seeded, few-whorled, etc. [With few-seeded compare scientific Latin pauciflorus (1731 or earlier).] ΚΠ 1761 J. Hill Veg. Syst. II. iii. iii. 75 (heading) Few-flowered Elfwort. 1799 J. Hull Brit. Flora i. 53 Berry few-seeded. 1847 H. W. Longfellow Evangeline ii. ii. 92 Men and women and children, who..Sought for their kith and their kin among the few-acred farmers On the Acadian coast. 1864 Geologist 7 92 Pleurotomia Jukesii (n. sp.). Few-whorled, subconical,..consisting of five elevated whorls. 1895 Amer. Jrnl. Pharmacy 67 386 The transfusion tissue is few-layered. 1904 Lutheran Observer 29 July 27/1 I always found something busy at its life-work—a bug or a bird, some many-legged or some few-legged animal, even plants. 1957 Music Q. 43 173 At Ferrara, his compositions are mainly in the few-voiced concertato style. 1991 S. J. Gould Bully for Brontosaurus iv. 70 Most early typists used idiosyncratic hunt-and-peck, few-fingered methods. 2002 Indiana Gaz. 28 Dec. 14/2 The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America argued that a few-celled embryo in a laboratory dish doesn't deserve the same protections as a person. 2007 F. Bargiela-Chiappini et al. Business Disc. 233 Finns considered themselves as ‘factual’ and ‘direct’ communicators, while Swedes referred to essentially the same characteristics as ‘blunt’, ‘pushy’, and ‘few-worded’. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2019; most recently modified version published online June 2022). < adj.pron.n.eOE
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