precious few

Idioms  

1. Also, precious little. Very few, very little, as in There are precious few leaves left on the trees, or We have precious little fuel left. In these idioms precious serves as an intensive, a colloquial usage dating from the first half of the 1800s.

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Example Sentences

Getting Momma Bear’s attention had bought George a precious few seconds of not being attacked, but Owen didn’t know what to do next.

From Literature

The new Paris show is nothing if not enjoyable, but it offers next to no historical context, and, in spite of its invocation of travel, is decidedly inward-looking; there are precious few examples, or even references, to Art Deco’s outpouring in the rest of the world.

From The Wall Street Journal

Tess moves with a troop of kooky outer-borough women, leaving the musical with precious few intimate moments of thoughtful stillness.

From Los Angeles Times

“Our life was obscure, perhaps not so interesting to some, but for us it was a whole life,” Smith explains, while telling stories of playing music together for hours, of making a home with precious few possessions, of accommodating the other person’s projects and affinities: For Fred, it was restoring an old boat that would never be made seaworthy; for Patti, it was the creation of a room in their house where she could write and travel inside her mind.

From Salon

The Terrible Towels were everywhere, but there were precious few opportunities to swirl them.

From Los Angeles Times