Emily Dickinson Lexicon

few (-er), adj. [OE feawe, little, poor, stop.] (webplay: many, men).

1. Sparse; scattered; not many; small in number.
2. Meager; scarce; [fig.] weak; wan.
3. Not as many; a smaller amount of.
4. Periodic; sporadic; infrequent; here and there.
5. Rare; select; chosen; elect; elite; exclusive.
6. Phrase. “A few/A few of”: a couple of; two or three; [possibly a nominal quantifier] selected ones; chosen candidates.