deal Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a particular instance of buying or selling
    business deal; trade.
    • it was a package deal
    • I had no further trade with him
    • he's a master of the business deal
  2. noun an agreement between parties (usually arrived at after discussion) fixing obligations of each
    bargain.
    • he made a bargain with the devil
    • he rose to prominence through a series of shady deals
  3. noun (often followed by `of') a large number or amount or extent
    plenty; great deal; pot; sight; flock; mint; slew; mountain; wad; muckle; pile; lot; mickle; raft; quite a little; passel; hatful; mess; spate; heap; peck; stack; good deal; batch; tidy sum; mass.
    • a batch of letters
    • a deal of trouble
    • a lot of money
    • he made a mint on the stock market
    • see the rest of the winners in our huge passel of photos
    • it must have cost plenty
    • a slew of journalists
    • a wad of money
  4. noun a plank of softwood (fir or pine board)
  5. noun wood that is easy to saw (from conifers such as pine or fir)
    softwood.
  6. noun the cards held in a card game by a given player at any given time
    hand.
    • I didn't hold a good hand all evening
    • he kept trying to see my hand
  7. noun the type of treatment received (especially as the result of an agreement)
    • he got a good deal on his car
  8. noun the act of distributing playing cards
    • the deal was passed around the table clockwise
  9. noun the act of apportioning or distributing something
    • the captain was entrusted with the deal of provisions
  10. verb act on verbally or in some form of artistic expression
    plow; handle; cover; treat; address.
    • This book deals with incest
    • The course covered all of Western Civilization
    • The new book treats the history of China
  11. verb take into consideration for exemplifying purposes
    look at; consider; take.
    • Take the case of China
    • Consider the following case
  12. verb take action with respect to (someone or something)
    • How are we going to deal with this problem?
    • The teacher knew how to deal with these lazy students
  13. verb come to terms with
    contend; cope; manage; get by; grapple; make out; make do.
    • We got by on just a gallon of gas
    • They made do on half a loaf of bread every day
  14. verb administer or bestow, as in small portions
    dish out; parcel out; dispense; distribute; dole out; administer; allot; lot; deal out; mete out; shell out.
    • administer critical remarks to everyone present
    • dole out some money
    • shell out pocket money for the children
    • deal a blow to someone
    • the machine dispenses soft drinks
  15. verb do business; offer for sale as for one's livelihood
    sell; trade.
    • She deals in gold
    • The brothers sell shoes
  16. verb be in charge of, act on, or dispose of
    manage; handle; care.
    • I can deal with this crew of workers
    • This blender can't handle nuts
    • She managed her parents' affairs after they got too old
  17. verb behave in a certain way towards others
    • He deals fairly with his employees
  18. verb distribute cards to the players in a game
    • Who's dealing?
  19. verb direct the course of; manage or control
    carry on; conduct.
    • You cannot conduct business like this
  20. verb give out as one's portion or share
    share; apportion; divvy up; portion out.
  21. verb give (a specific card) to a player
    • He dealt me the Queen of Spades
  22. verb sell
    • deal hashish

WordNet

Deal noun
Etymology
OE. del, deel, part, AS. dl; akin to OS. dl, D. & Dan. deel, G. theil, teil, Icel. deild, Sw. del, Goth. dails. . Cf. 3d Dole.
Definitions
  1. A part or portion; a share; hence, an indefinite quantity, degree, or extent, degree, or extent; as, a deal of time and trouble; a deal of cold.
    Three tenth deals [parts of an ephah] of flour. Num. xv. 9.
    As an object of science it [the Celtic genius] may count for a good deal . . . as a spiritual power. M. Arnold.
    She was resolved to be a good deal more circumspect. W. Black.
    ✍ It was formerly limited by some, every, never a, a thousand, etc.; as, some deal; but these are now obsolete or vulgar. In general, we now qualify the word with great or good, and often use it adverbially, by being understood; as, a great deal of time and pains; a great (or good) deal better or worse; that is, better by a great deal, or by a great part or difference.
  2. The process of dealing cards to the players; also, the portion disturbed.
    The deal, the shuffle, and the cut. Swift.
  3. Distribution; apportionment. Colloq.
  4. An arrangement to attain a desired result by a combination of interested parties; -- applied to stock speculations and political bargains. Slang
  5. Prob. from D. deel a plank, threshing floor. See Thill. The division of a piece of timber made by sawing; a board or plank; particularly, a board or plank of fir or pine above seven inches in width, and exceeding six feet in length. If narrower than this, it is called a batten; if shorter, a deal end. ✍ Whole deal is a general term for planking one and one half inches thick.
  6. Wood of the pine or fir; as, a floor of deal. Dr. Prior.
Deal transitive verb
Etymology
OE. delen, AS. dlan, fr. dl share; akin to OS. dlian, D. deelen, G. theilen, teilen, Icel. deila, Sw. dela, Dan. dele, Goth. dailjan. See Deal, n.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Dealt ; present participle & verbal noun Dealing
Definitions
  1. To divide; to separate in portions; hence, to give in portions; to distribute; to bestow successively; -- sometimes with out.
    Is not to deal thy bread to the hungry? Is. lviii. 7.
    And Rome deals out her blessings and her gold. Tickell.
    The nightly mallet deals resounding blows. Gay.
    Hissing through the skies, the feathery deaths were dealt. Dryden.
  2. Specifically: To distribute, as cards, to the players at the commencement of a game; as, to deal the cards; to deal one a jack.
Deal intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To make distribution; to share out in portions, as cards to the players.
  2. To do a distributing or retailing business, as distinguished from that of a manufacturer or producer; to traffic; to trade; to do business; as, he deals in flour.
    They buy and sell, they deal and traffic. South.
    This is to drive to wholesale trade, when all other petty merchants deal but for parcels. Dr. H. More.
  3. To act as an intermediary in business or any affairs; to manage; to make arrangements; -- followed by between or with.
    Sometimes he that deals between man and man, raiseth his own credit with both, by pretending greater interest than he hath in either. Bacon.
  4. To conduct one's self; to behave or act in any affair or towards any one; to treat.
    If he will deal clearly and impartially, . . . he will acknowledge all this to be true. Tillotson.
  5. To contend (with); to treat (with), by way of opposition, check, or correction; as, he has turbulent passions to deal with.
    The deacons of his church, who, to use their own phrase, "dealt with him" on the sin of rejecting the aid which Providence so manifestly held out. Hawthorne.
    Return . . . and I will deal well with thee. Gen. xxxii. 9.

Webster 1913