What is "the few"

Few \Few\ (f[=u]),

1. [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.
   --Prover

2. 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.