deal
Noun pluraldeals
Pluraldeals
- 1To take action to handle, manage, settle, or cope with a person, problem, or situation; usually followed by 'with'.
The nurses deal with emergencies every night.
If he doesn't like the plan, he can just deal.
UsageThe past is dealt (not
incorrect: dealed). Usually followed by with: deal with a problem, dealt with the customer.Note
The everyday sense of handling and coping can be quite physical. In Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897), after the sound of a struggle, "the attendants were dealing with him."
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- Bram Stoker wrote Dracula. gutenberg.org
- Dracula was first published in 1897. gutenberg.org
- The quoted wording occurs after the sound of a struggle, in Mina Harker’s journal. gutenberg.org
- 2An agreement, arrangement, or transaction between parties, especially in business or politics; a pact or trade.
After weeks of talks, the union and the company reached a deal on pay.
He cut a deal with the prosecutors in exchange for his testimony.
UsageYou make, cut or reach a deal with someone. It's a deal means you agree.
Similaragreement, arrangement, bargain, pact, settlement
- 3A transaction offered on terms that are financially advantageous to the buyer; a bargain.
The bank's mortgage deals were better than anything the brokers offered.
We found a great deal on plane tickets by booking a few months early.
UsageUsually a good or great deal on something: a great deal on flights.
Oppositerip-off
- 4To be concerned with a subject; to have something as one's topic or field, usually 'deal with'.
Her research deals with the way children learn to read.
The later poems deal with loss and old age.
UsageTakes with, and the subject is usually a book, course or study: the chapter deals with the town's history.
Similarconcern, address, cover, discuss, explore
Note
A study deals with its topic the way a chapter covers its material. James Joyce's Ulysses (1922) gives the pattern: "Science, it cannot be too often repeated, deals with tangible phenomena."
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- James Joyce wrote Ulysses. en.wikisource.org
- Ulysses was first published as a book in 1922. en.wikisource.org
- The quotation occurs exactly as given in Ulysses, in the narration of Chapter 14. en.wikisource.org
- 5An indefinite, usually large, quantity or amount; now almost always 'a great deal' or 'a good deal', often followed by 'of'.
The new road cost a great deal more than planned.
There is a good deal of truth in what she says.
UsageUsed with uncountable nouns: a great deal of time, a good deal of truth. For plurals, say a great many people.
Similarlot, load, heap, pile, mass
Note
Modern English has narrowed the quantity sense to a great deal and a good deal. Older prose was freer: Jane Austen's Mansfield Park (1814) has "a vast deal of difference," and Melville's Moby-Dick (1851) a bare "a deal of obscurity." Today the unqualified form reads as a period touch.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- Jane Austen wrote Mansfield Park, first published in 1814; the first-edition title page also bears 1814. en.wikipedia.org
- Mansfield Park contains “a vast deal of difference,” spoken by Mrs. Norris in Chapter II. en.wikisource.org
- Herman Melville wrote Moby-Dick, first published in 1851; the first American edition's title page also bears 1851. en.wikipedia.org
- Moby-Dick contains the unqualified phrase “a deal of obscurity,” in Ishmael's narration in Chapter 32. gutenberg.org
- 6In informal use, a situation, occasion, or event, especially in 'big deal' and 'what's the deal'.
The launch party was the biggest deal in town that week.
So I was late. What's the big deal?
UsageMostly in a big deal, no big deal and what's the deal with. Big deal! on its own can be sarcastic.
- 7To do business or trade: with 'with', to have commercial dealings with a person or organization; with 'in', to buy and sell a particular kind of goods.
Banks that dealt with the regime now face investigation.
We deal only with licensed importers.
UsageDeal with a person or firm; deal in a kind of goods: deal in old coins.
Similartrade
Note
In the 1984 film Dune, Paul Atreides says the Baron and the Emperor "will be forced to deal with us," meaning forced to come to terms with them.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- The film Dune was released in 1984. en.wikipedia.org
- Paul Atreides says that the Baron and the Emperor will be forced to deal with them; the quoted words are exact. en.wikiquote.org
- 8To give, inflict, or administer something such as a blow, damage, punishment, or justice; with punishment or justice, often 'deal out'.
The news dealt her hopes a serious blow.
In the game, fire spells deal more damage than ice spells.
UsageCommon pairs: deal a blow to something, deal someone a blow, deal damage. The victim can be the passive subject: he was dealt a blow.
Similarinflict, deliver, give, administer, cause
Note
Game rules have made deal damage a fixed pair. Jake Conner's Maverick, Strategy RPG: Core Rulebook (2009) has an attack that will "deal damage equal to 4 times your size category."
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- Jake Conner wrote the cited rulebook. iuniverse.com
- The full title is Maverick, Strategy RPG: Core Rulebook. iuniverse.com
- The rulebook describes an attack using the quoted wording and multiplier. en.wiktionary.org
Less common meanings
- 9To distribute the cards to the players in a card game, either with or without an object naming the cards or the players.
The dealer will deal each player two cards, then three in the middle.
She shuffled twice and dealt the cards face down.
UsageDeal cards to players, or deal each player cards. A player is dealt a hand: I was dealt four aces.
Similardistribute, give, hand
- 10To sell, especially to sell illegal drugs; used with or without an object.
Police believe the gang deals from an apartment above the shop.
She started to deal to pay off her own debts.
UsageUsed alone, as in he deals, it usually means selling drugs. For ordinary goods, say deal in.
Similarsell
- 11In card games, the distribution of the cards to the players, or a player's turn to distribute them; also the cards a player receives.
The deal passes to the left after every hand.
He complained that he had not had a decent deal all night.
UsageOften your deal or whose deal: whose deal is it?
Similarhand
Note
At the card table the noun covers both the act and the turn: "I believe it's your deal" means it is your turn to hand out the cards. Because hand is a synonym, it can also mean the cards you received, as in "I didn't have a good deal all evening."
- 12In slang, a person's characteristic manner or problem (especially a puzzling or negative trait) and whatever lies behind it; chiefly in 'what's his deal?'.
Nobody could figure out the new manager's deal.
His whole deal was pretending he didn't care.
UsageMostly in the question what's his deal? or in her whole deal is.
Similarproblem, issue, thing, story
Note
Slang uses the word to size a person up: someone's deal is their characteristic manner and whatever drives it. It lives mostly in the puzzled or irritated question "what's her deal?" It also appears in "his whole deal is," which the presidential papers of 1992 to 1993 record Bill Clinton using.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Bill Clinton used the words "his whole deal is"; the transcript identifies him as Governor Clinton. presidency.ucsb.edu
- The relevant presidential papers cover 1992–1993; these are the volume's coverage dates. govinfo.gov
- 13In informal use, an unspecified or unidentified object; a thing whose name the speaker does not know or does not bother to give.
What is this little deal on the side of the printer for?
She bought one of those deals that you plug into the lighter socket.
UsageOften with little or those: this little deal, one of those deals.
Similarthingy
Note
The word works here as a placeholder for an object you can't or won't name, in the same family as thingy, whazzit and dealy.
- 14To distribute something among a number of recipients, giving each a portion or share; often 'deal out'.
The charity dealt out blankets to everyone in the shelter.
The old king would deal lands and titles to his loyal knights.
UsageOften deal out: deal out food, deal out blankets to everyone.
Note
Here the verb shows its origin most plainly. It comes from Old English dǣlan, "to divide, part," a sister of the word behind the old "share" meaning. To deal something is to split it and hand each person a piece: spoils, blessings, gold. It pairs naturally with out, as in Thomas Tickell's line "Rome deals out her blessings and her gold," and the card-table use is this same motion narrowed to one object.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts
- The verb descends from Old English dǣlan, meaning “to divide, part.” en.wiktionary.org
- The verb is etymologically related to the noun meaning “share”: its Germanic ancestor was formed from the noun meaning “part.” en.wiktionary.org
- Thomas Tickell wrote the quoted words in “An Epistle from a Lady in England, to a Gentleman at Avignon.” eighteenthcenturypoetry.org
- Dealing cards is a specialized instance of distributing something among recipients. en.wiktionary.org
- 15To conduct oneself or behave, especially toward others; to act justly or unjustly.
He had always dealt honestly, and his neighbors trusted him.
A good manager tries to deal fairly with everyone on her team.
UsageUsually with an adverb, often plus with: deal fairly with everyone, deal honestly.
Note
Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene (1590) says King Ryence "raign'd, and dealed right," that is, he ruled and behaved justly. The line also keeps dealed, a past form now counted as nonstandard; modern English uses dealt.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- Edmund Spenser wrote The Faerie Queene; its first three books, including the quoted passage, were first published in 1590. en.wikisource.org
- The poem's narrator says that King Ryence “raign'd, and dealed right,” describing his reign and just conduct. en.wikisource.org
- Dealed is a past form of deal, currently labelled nonstandard. en.wiktionary.org
- Dealt is the standard past form. en.wiktionary.org
- 16Softwood timber from conifers such as pine or fir that is easy to saw.
The cottage had a kitchen table of scrubbed deal.
The packing cases were knocked together from rough deal.
UsageOften follows of to name the material: a table of scrubbed deal, boxes of rough deal.
Oppositehardwood
Note
Timber gives English a second, unrelated deal. Daniel Defoe's A Journal of the Plague Year (1722) describes locked-up houses with "Deal-Boards nail'd over" their windows.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Daniel Defoe wrote A Journal of the Plague Year. gutenberg.org
- A Journal of the Plague Year was first published in 1722. en.wikisource.org
- 17Made of deal, the softwood of pine or fir; used of plain, inexpensive furniture and fittings.
She kept her papers in a scratched deal box.
The deal floorboards had never been painted.
UsageComes before a noun, most often furniture or wood: a deal table, deal floorboards.
Oppositehardwood
Note
Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, D. H. Lawrence's Sons and Lovers and Somerset Maugham's The Moon and Sixpence all put a deal table in a modest room, so the word carries plainness with it.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- Joseph Conrad wrote Heart of Darkness, which places a deal table in a plainly furnished waiting room. gutenberg.org
- D. H. Lawrence wrote Sons and Lovers, which places a deal table in a modest kitchen. gutenberg.org
- Somerset Maugham wrote The Moon and Sixpence, which places a deal table in a modest room. gutenberg.org
- 18An act of dealing or sharing out; archaic except in specialized uses such as card dealing.
- 19In obsolete use, a division or portion of something; a share, part, or piece.
Similarshare, portion, allotment, apportionment
Note
The oldest meaning of the noun is the root of the whole first family: Old English dǣl, "part, share, portion," from an Indo-European root for "part" or "watershed." As a free-standing word for a share it has gone; share, part or portion do the work now. It survives in the quantity of "a great deal", and at bottom a great deal is a large share.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts
- The noun's original share or portion sense comes from Old English dǣl. en.wiktionary.org
- The ancestry includes an Indo-European form meaning part or watershed. en.wiktionary.org
- The inherited noun survives in the quantity expression a great deal. en.wiktionary.org
- 20In obsolete use, to take action; to act, especially to act in a fight or contest.
Wel said syr Uwayne go on your waye, and lete me dele.
1470, Thomas Malory, Le Morte DarthurNote
In Thomas Malory's Le Morte Darthur, Sir Uwain says "go on your waye, and lete me dele," roughly "leave this to me." To deal was simply to act, with no object and no preposition. That general meaning has gone.
- 21A plank or board of softwood such as fir or pine, often of a standard size, used in building and carpentry.
- 22In baseball, to pitch: to throw the ball toward the batter for them to hit.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origins
From Middle English del, from Old English dǣl ("part, share, portion"), going back through Proto-Germanic *dailiz to a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "part". It is related to German Teil and Dutch deel, and connected to the word dole.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 5 facts
- Deal descends from Middle English del and Old English dǣl, meaning part, share, or portion. en.wiktionary.org
- The word descends from reconstructed Proto-Germanic *dailiz. en.wiktionary.org
- The reconstructed Proto-Indo-European ancestor meant part. en.wiktionary.org
- Deal is related to German Teil and Dutch deel. en.wiktionary.org
- Deal is etymologically connected to dole. en.wiktionary.org
Proto-Germanic *dailijaną gave Old English dǣlan ("to divide, part"), which became Middle English delen. Related words include Dutch delen, German teilen, Swedish dela, and Lithuanian dalinti ("divide").
Proto-Germanic *þiljǭ ("plank, board") ultimately led to Old Saxon thili and Middle Low German dele, and English borrowed the latter as Middle English dele ("plank"). Thill is a doublet.