A smallnumber of (a set ofcountable items); more than one but not very many; especially, more than two but not very many(explained in usage note atseveral).
"I don't want to spoil any comparison you are going to make," said Jim, "but I was at Winchester and New College." ¶ "That will do," said Mackenzie. "I was dragged up at the workhouse school till I was twelve. Then I ran away and sold papers in the streets, and anything else that I could pick upa few coppers by—except steal.[…]"
A few andfew withouta differ in emphasis.Few emphasizes that the number is not as large as expected, whilea few emphasizes the fact that the number, while small, is not zero but more than two.
Compare:
I was expecting lots of people at the party, but few turned up.
I wasn't expecting any young people at the party, buta few turned up.
Note that whena few is preceded by another determiner,a is dropped.The few andevery few mean “the group of a few” and “every group of a few” respectively.
