Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Deal?

\Deal\ (d[=e]l), n. [OE. del, deel, part, AS. d[=ae]l; akin to OS. d[=e]l, D. & Dan. deel, G. theil, teil, Icel. deild, Sw. del, Goth. dails. [root]65. Cf. 3d {Dole}.] 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. Note: 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. Note: 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. {Deal tree}, a fir tree. --Dr. Prior.
\Deal\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Dealt} (d[e^]lt); p. pr. & vb. n. {Dealing}.] [OE. delen, AS. d[=ae]lan, fr. d[=ae]l share; akin to OS. d[=e]lian, D. deelen, G. theilen, teilen, Icel. deila, Sw. dela, Dan. dele, Goth. dailjan. See {Deal}, n.] 1. To divide; to separate in portions; hence, to give in portions; to distribute; to bestow successively; -- sometimes with out. Is it 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\, v. i. 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. {To deal by}, to treat, either well or ill; as, to deal well by servants. ``Such an one deals not fairly by his own mind.'' --Locke. {To deal in}. (a) To have to do with; to be engaged in; to practice; as, they deal in political matters. (b) To buy and sell; to furnish, as a retailer or wholesaler; as, they deal in fish. {To deal with}. (a) To treat in any manner; to use, whether well or ill; to have to do with; specifically, to trade with. ``Dealing with witches.'' --Shak. (b) To reprove solemnly; to expostulate 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.