A couple was 2. Several was considered a vague term with 4 to 8 being the accepted meaning. A dozen was It could be combined with couple, few, and several dozen to give a general estimate.
Some and a group as well as a bunch or many could only be defined in the contest used with a bunch and many considered more. We all know a bubbler and not a fountain is the proper term for the fixture or unit, usually in a public area, you get a drink of water from. A fountain is a place you throw coins in….
Yes, I live in Wisconsin. In my studies to teach English as a Second Language, we were instructed to explain those terms as: a couple is 2, a few is 3 or 4, several is 5 or 6 and many is more than that. If you mean 3, 4, 6, 7, etc. The only thing I can say for sure is a couple means two. This is closest to my belief, but I was taught that a couple was 2 or 3, no specifically either. This was because why would you call 2 a couple? I would say if a couple people got knocked down it was 2 and if you meant more than 2 people got knocked down, you are saying the wrong word.
A couple meaning 2 just makes sense. I was taught a few meant 3 or more but not a lot. I heard my Granddaughter tell a story and she said a couple. She told it again and it was a 3 or 4. I asked how many 2 or more? She said idk a couple. I said a couple is 2, she said well more than two but I am not sure, I said if your sure it was more than 2 but not many use a few. One of the many things I do that makes me realize I have turned into my mother.
I just had a discussion about this and after looking up what those words really mean I was confused. My thought all these long years is that 2 is a couple, a few is 3 and several meant 7 or more it seemed to me the first 4 letters seve gave it away. Everything else was a specific number.
A number a large number! It was very tongue-in-cheek, but I have been unable to locate it or any mention of it in recent years. It had entries like the ones in this thread, but also things like Many, Most, All represented as varying percentages , etc.
I wish I could resurrect it from wherever it went! My husband wanted to be a diver in USN. The dictionary defines Several as more than two but not many. Several, few, handful, bunch and some. These have no numerical significance. If you want to say an exact amount you would use the number. A few in this context being a subjective estimate. That line was probably a lot more clever in the 70s, this upcoming generation is shockingly polyamorous.
Governor Murphy of NJ just said yesterday that we are still several weeks away from opening up our economy.
Sorry, no. There is one time, however, when couple dancing is in high demand, and that is around weddings. The court papers are sealed, but the couple has made it clear they want to be relieved of their parental responsibilities.
He thus decoyed them away, and the fortunate couple were enabled to reach the British lines under cover of the darkness. They had the advantage in position and numbers, but Guitar had the advantage in having a couple of pieces of artillery. It consisted in a couple of snakes in old gold clenching an enormous topaz between their heads.
Martini prepared a couple of stout mules, and concealed them amongst the thickets on the opposite side of the fosse. This takes at first the crude device of a couple of vertical lines attached to the head see Fig. New Word List Word List. Save This Word! Also called couple-close. Fox Hunting. We could talk until we're blue in the face about this quiz on words for the color "blue," but we think you should take the quiz and find out if you're a whiz at these colorful terms.
Idioms about couple. Maybe the meanings of those words have different nuances in different regions? Maybe it's related to the fact of east-coast people are usually more punctual? Show 1 more comment. What are your thoughts? Definitely not. Couple is certainly fewer than few. Pair : Two which go together, a matching couple. Very few : A small number, smaller than expected. More than two, though. Several : A large number, but not necessarily larger than expected.
Good stuff, but: 'the happy couple' is not an idiom; 'couple' is simply a noun in its own right, and the use as a phrasal noun modifier 'a couple of' was likely derived from it. I don't think calling 'several' a 'large number' is accurate; for instance, the American Heritage dictionary defines 'several' as "Being of a number more than two or three but not many" - education. The phrase "the happy couple" does not apply to any two people who happen to be happy. It refers specifically to newlyweds.
Therefore, the meaning of the phrase cannot be directly inferred from the meanings of the component words. As such, it qualifies as an idiom. Fair point, my bad - I misread your statement as saying that the use of 'couple' as a noun in its own right was idiomatic. Off topic, I suppose, but I never associated "happy couple" with newly weds.
In fact the first google hit for the phrase reference couples of any age. I get wedding photography and "premarital relationship workshops for happily engaged or newlywed couples". Show 4 more comments. Er, yes. In fact, I think I've used "several" as a synonym for "many" on at least one occasion! There's also "multiple", but it feels awkward sometimes. Personally, I've always thought of "few," "several," and "couple" as interchangeable and used them that way. Several and a few are different to me, though they can often be used to describe the same thing.
So what they refer to is basically the same, but they betray different attitudes in the speaker towards what they modify. A few people distinguish "some" and "several" — Conrado. Add a comment. Larry Gritz Larry Gritz 2 2 silver badges 3 3 bronze badges. Hal Hal 2, 4 4 gold badges 23 23 silver badges 32 32 bronze badges. A couple is two which are together.
A pair is two which match. Yes, I agree - 'couple' and 'pair' are precise terms, not ranges. Although I believe that the word 'couple' possesses a measure of vagueness when it's used casually: two is its ideal referent, and three is an acceptable referent but not an ideal one.
The number of instances is The sample is from a reddit subgroup very self-selected The answers are biased by the question which is 'What is the number for the following biasing towards numbers that are in order of the words 'some' is presented before 'several' so might be expected to have lower number. This is all to say that quantification can oversimplify the breadth of meaning of a word. Mitch Mitch I always think of a couple as two.
Few is three or more. Luke Baumgarten Luke Baumgarten 4 4 silver badges 9 9 bronze badges. Michael hoped Angie would be better in a couple of days. We got some eggs. Would you like a couple? I will recount a few of the stories told me.
Many believe it but only a few are prepared to say. Oxford defines 'couple' as two individuals of the same sort considered together The first three definitions for 'couple' in Merriam-Webster also refer to two of something.
David Smith David Smith 6 6 bronze badges. Ben Ben 2, 13 13 silver badges 15 15 bronze badges. To my mind, and googling dictionaries, several is more than two but less than many.
I would not consider two things to be several. Drew When I think of "several people" the number I imagine is seven, probably homophony. Nonetheless, "several" has a specific meaning, per the OED "Existing apart, separate". So two is the minimum for "several". I won't argue ;-.
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