Adjacent Words

Few definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

FEW, a. [L. pauci. The senses of few and small are often united.]
Not many; small in number. Party is the madness of many for the gain of a few; but few men, in times of party, regard the maxim.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: a quantifier that can be used with count nouns and is often preceded by `a'; a small but indefinite number; "a few weeks ago"; "a few more wagons than usual"; "an invalid's pleasures are few and far between"; "few roses were still blooming"; "few women have led troops in battle" [ant: many] n
1: a small elite group; "it was designed for the discriminating few"

Merriam Webster's

I. pronoun, plural in construction Etymology: Middle English fewe, pronoun & adjective, from Old English f?awa; akin to Old High German f? little, Latin paucus little, pauper poor, Greek paid-, pais child, Sanskrit putra son Date: before 12th century not many persons or things <few were present> <few of his stories are true> II. adjective Date: before 12th century 1. consisting of or amounting to only a small number <one of our few pleasures> 2. at least some but indeterminately small in number — used with a <caught a few fish> • fewness noun III. noun, plural in construction Date: before 12th century 1. a small number of units or individuals <a few of them> 2. a special limited number <the discriminating few>

NOAA Weather Glossary

A cloud layer that covers between 1/8th and 2/8ths of the sky.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. & n. --adj. not many (few doctors smoke; visitors are few). --n. (as pl.) 1 (prec. by a) some but not many (a few words should be added; a few of his friends were there). 2 a small number, not many (many are called but few are chosen). 3 (prec. by the) a the minority. b the elect. 4 (the Few) colloq. the RAF pilots who took part in the Battle of Britain. Phrases and idioms: every few once in every small group of (every few days). few and far between scarce. a good few colloq. a fairly large number. have a few colloq. take several alcoholic drinks. no fewer than as many as (a specified number). not a few a considerable number. some few some but not at all many. Derivatives: fewness n. Etymology: OE feawe, feawa f. Gmc

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Few Few (f[=u]), a. [Compar. Fewer; superl. Fewest.] [OE. fewe, feawe, AS. fe['a], pl. fe['a]we; akin to OS. f[=a]h, OHG. f[=o] fao, Icel. f[=a]r, Sw. f[*a], pl., Dan. faa, pl., Goth. faus, L. paucus, cf. Gr. pay^ros. Cf. Paucity.] Not many; small, limited, or confined in number; -- indicating a small portion of units or individuals constituing a whole; often, by ellipsis of a noun, a few people. ``Are not my days few?'' --Job x. 20. Few know and fewer care. --Proverb. Note: Few is often used partitively; as, few of them. A few, a small number. In few, in a few words; briefly. --Shak. No few, not few; more than a few; many. --Cowper. The few, the minority; -- opposed to the many or the majority.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(fewer, fewest) Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English. 1. You use a few to indicate that you are talking about a small number of people or things. You can also say a very few. I gave a dinner party for a few close friends... Here are a few more ideas to consider... She was silent for a few seconds. DET: DET pl-n • Few is also a pronoun. Doctors work an average of 90 hours a week, while a few are on call for up to 120 hours... A strict diet is appropriate for only a few. PRON • Few is also a quantifier. There are many ways eggs can be prepared; here are a few of them. ...a little tea-party I'm giving for a few of the teachers. QUANT: QUANT of def-pl-n 2. You use few after adjectives and determiners to indicate that you are talking about a small number of things or people. The past few weeks of her life had been the most pleasant she could remember... ...in the last few chapters... A train would pass through there every few minutes at that time of day. ADJ: adj/det ADJ n 3. You use few to indicate that you are talking about a small number of people or things. You can use 'so', 'too' and 'very' in front of few. She had few friends, and was generally not very happy... Few members planned to vote for him... Very few firms collect the tax, even when they're required to do so by law. ? many DET: DET pl-n • Few is also a pronoun. The trouble is that few want to buy, despite the knockdown prices on offer. ...a true singing and songwriting talent that few suspected. PRON • Few is also a quantifier. Few of the volunteers had military experience. QUANT: QUANT of def-pl-n • Few is also an adjective. ...spending her few waking hours in front of the TV... His memories of his father are few. ADJ 4. The few means a small set of people considered as separate from the majority, especially because they share a particular opportunity or quality that the others do not have. This should not be an experience for the few. ...a system built on academic excellence for the few. N-SING: the N 5. You use as few as before a number to suggest that it is surprisingly small. One study showed that even as few as ten cigarettes a day can damage fertility... PHRASE: PHR num [emphasis] 6. Things that are few and far between are very rare or do not happen very often. In this economic climate new ideas were few and far between. = rare PHRASE: v-link PHR [emphasis] 7. You use no fewer than to emphasize that a number is surprisingly large. No fewer than thirteen foreign ministers attended the session. PHRASE: PHR num [emphasis]

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. Not many, small in number, hardly any, scarcely any.

Airports

Landing Facility Type	HELIPORT
Airport Code	FEW
EFF_DATE	02/16/2006
FAA Region	ANM
FAA District	DEN
State	WY
State	WYOMING
County	LARAMIE
County State	WY
City Name	CHEYENNE
Full Name	FRANCIS E WARREN AFB
Owner Type	PR
Facility Use	PR
Facility City, State, Zip	"CHEYENNE, WY"
Elevation	6160
Aeronautical chart on which the airport facility appears	CHEYENNE
Distance from the central business district of the associated city to the airport in nautical miles	02
Direction of airport from the central business district of the associated city	W
Control Tower	N
Latitude	41.1333150000
Longitude	-104.8671916667
State FIPS code	56
State Postal Code	WY
Version	09

Moby Thesaurus

cursory, depthless, footling, handful, hardly any, inconsequential, inconsiderable, insignificant, least, little, littlest, low, lowest, meager, miniature, minim, minimum, negligible, no great shakes, not many, occasional, of small number, petty, picayune, picayunish, precious little, rare, scarce, scarcely any, scattering, seldom, shallow, short, shortest, skin-deep, slightest, small, smallest, smatter, smattering, spatter, spattering, sporadic, sprinkling, superficial, tiny, trifling, trivial, uncommon, unfrequent