A couple: 2.
A few: 3-4ish
Several: 4-8ish.

Otters are great. I wish the ocean otters would come back to Oregon - I remember watching them as a kid. River otters are still fun!

My wife uses "couple" as synonymous with "two".

It makes sense, I guess. But it doesn't sit right.

Couple is always 2.
Few up to about 6.
Several 6 or more but less than a dozen.

A couple: a pair
A few: some
Several: a bunch

"Couple" is two.

"Few" is more than one but not many. I generally consider it between 2 and 5.

"Several" is still made up of red ducks.

2
3
5-8

Couple: two
Few: 3-4, maybe 5
Several: 5-9

Otters really are awesome.

A couple is 2, few is 3, several is 4-8, unless the items in question are a desirable consumable that the speaker wants, such as dark chocolate-covered espresso beans, in which case all practical definitions for the above shift to "as many as I can get away with taking without you noticing/being able to prove it, thank you for offering me one".

Couple: more than 2 less than 5.
Few: same
Several: 5-6

a couple is 2, a few 3-5, several 6-9, beyond which I go into a bunch, a slew and a bleepload.

A couple: two, exactly.
A few: up to a half dozen.
Several: seven to about a dozen.

With the exception of otters: a couple of otters is a lot of otters!

2
3 or 5 (never 4)
5-7

Couple is obviously 2.

Few is 3.

Several can be a few or more.

Depends on the context. A couple is precisely 2 in some situations, but not necessarily in all of them. In any case, I don't think it's ever more than, say, 4 at the outside.

"A few" can be a significantly larger number if, for instance, it's a subset as opposed to the larger group that encompasses it. Like, say, 23 bad beans out of a five-pound bag.

Several: probably under ten, but see above.

A couple is two. A few is three. Several is 4+.

A couple is two exactly. It can be used to mean something that's "not two", but only in the same way you can say "three-ish" to mean "four." Three is still three, a couple is still two. A couple has a core of crunchy definition and I'd be confused if anyone pointed to a distinct exact three of something and said, "yes, that's a couple, a couple can mean three."

A few is 3 to 7. A few is just enough where you could give them individual pet names, or give a quick rundown. It's not enough to be impressed by, but it it's not nothing. (And it's more than two.)

Several is at least four (three is never "several"), but usually more, with no upper bound. You'll need pencil and paper to deal with several of something. Too many to enumerate casually. "There were several complaints." = nobody liked it.

A couple of beers is always more than two beers. Otherwise, two or three. Few 3-5, several 5-10.

I like the phrase "a couple two three four (blanks)" for when I'm not sure of the exact amount.

Water mammals are pretty humorous as a rule.

"A couple of people" (as in "can I bring a coupla people to your party?") is two.

"A couple of beers" or "a couple of cocktails" or "a couple of coffees" is two or more.

"A couple of cookies" is a minimum of five. (No? Just me?)

I can't get a handle on "a few" or "several" and I think they're highly contextual. If you said "a few cookies," I'd think you meant three or four. "Several cookies" is more than four but fewer than, say, a dozen.

But "a few minutes" might be anywhere from 2 minutes to 20 minutes, and I can't even guess what "several minutes" might mean (except that it would be longer than five).

When talking about distinct items that are immediately available, I think the following applies:

Couple = 2
Few = 3
Several = 3 or more (I think few and several overlap on the low end)

But when used more generally, I think the definitions have less, uh, definition. For example, take this sentence: "Management has made a couple strategic mistakes since taking over." I wouldn't translate that as exactly two mistakes. And if you replaced "a couple" with "a few" or "several," I'd general have the same impression about the number of times management screwed up.

Thanks!

Couple = 2
Few = 3-4
Several = 5-9.

If you said 'management has made a couple strategic mistakes ...', I'd assume you mean two and complain that, if you meant more, you should have used a different word. I'd also cringe at the use of ...'couple strategic ...' instead of the obviously more correct '...couple of strategic ...'