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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Few \Few\ (f[=u]), adjective [Compar. {Fewer} (f[=u]"[~e]r); 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 constituting a whole; often, by ellipsis of a noun, a few people. ''Are not my days few?'' --Job x. 20.
Few know and fewer care. --Proverb.
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.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
few
adjective: 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}]
noun
1: an indefinite but relatively small number; "they bought a case of beer and drank a few"
2: a small elite group; "it was designed for the discriminating few"
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
50 Moby Thesaurus words for "few": 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
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