# deal

Pronunciation: say "DEEL" /diːl/

## Verb

1. To take action to handle, manage, settle, or cope with a person, problem, or situation; usually followed by 'with'.
   - Simple: To do what is needed about a problem, task, or person. To cope with it.
   - _The nurses deal with emergencies every night._
   - _If he doesn't like the plan, he can just deal._
4. To be concerned with a subject; to have something as one's topic or field, usually 'deal with'.
   - Simple: To be about a particular subject or to be concerned with it.
   - _Her research deals with the way children learn to read._
   - _The later poems deal with loss and old age._
7. To 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.
   - Simple: To do business with someone, or to buy and sell a certain kind of goods.
   - _Banks that dealt with the regime now face investigation._
   - _We deal only with licensed importers._
9. To distribute the cards to the players in a card game, either with or without an object naming the cards or the players.
   - Simple: To give out cards to the players in a card game.
   - _The dealer will deal each player two cards, then three in the middle._
   - _She shuffled twice and dealt the cards face down._
10. To sell, especially to sell illegal drugs; used with or without an object.
   - Simple: To sell something, especially illegal drugs.
   - _Police believe the gang deals from an apartment above the shop._
   - _She started to deal to pay off her own debts._
8. To give, inflict, or administer something such as a blow, damage, punishment, or justice; with punishment or justice, often 'deal out'.
   - Simple: To give someone or something a hit, harm, or punishment.
   - _The news dealt her hopes a serious blow._
   - _In the game, fire spells deal more damage than ice spells._
14. To distribute something among a number of recipients, giving each a portion or share; often 'deal out'.
   - Simple: To share something out among several people.
   - _The charity dealt out blankets to everyone in the shelter._
   - _The old king would deal lands and titles to his loyal knights._
15. To conduct oneself or behave, especially toward others; to act justly or unjustly.
   - Simple: To behave or act in a certain way toward others.
   - _He had always dealt honestly, and his neighbors trusted him._
   - _A good manager tries to deal fairly with everyone on her team._

## Noun

2. An agreement, arrangement, or transaction between parties, especially in business or politics; a pact or trade.
   - Simple: An agreement or exchange between people or groups, especially in business or politics.
   - _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._
3. A transaction offered on terms that are financially advantageous to the buyer; a bargain.
   - Simple: A price or offer that is good for the buyer.
   - _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._
5. An indefinite, usually large, quantity or amount; now almost always 'a great deal' or 'a good deal', often followed by 'of'.
   - Simple: A large amount of something, usually in the phrases 'a great deal' or 'a good deal'.
   - _The new road cost a great deal more than planned._
   - _There is a good deal of truth in what she says._
6. In informal use, a situation, occasion, or event, especially in 'big deal' and 'what's the deal'. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: A situation or an event, in informal speech.
   - _The launch party was the biggest deal in town that week._
   - _So I was late. What's the big deal?_
11. In card games, the distribution of the cards to the players, or a player's turn to distribute them; also the cards a player receives.
   - Simple: The giving out of cards in a card game, or a player's turn to do it.
   - _The deal passes to the left after every hand._
   - _He complained that he had not had a decent deal all night._
12. In 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?'. *(slang)*
   - Simple: A person's way of behaving, especially a strange or annoying one, and the reason for it.
   - _Nobody could figure out the new manager's deal._
   - _His whole deal was pretending he didn't care._
13. In informal use, an unspecified or unidentified object; a thing whose name the speaker does not know or does not bother to give. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: A thing whose name is not known or not given, in informal speech.
   - _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._
16. Softwood timber from conifers such as pine or fir that is easy to saw.
   - Simple: Soft wood from pine or fir trees that is easy to cut.
   - _The cottage had a kitchen table of scrubbed deal._
   - _The packing cases were knocked together from rough deal._

## Adjective

17. Made of deal, the softwood of pine or fir; used of plain, inexpensive furniture and fittings.
   - Simple: Made of deal, the cheap soft wood of pine or fir trees.
   - _She kept her papers in a scratched deal box._
   - _The deal floorboards had never been painted._

## Noun

18. An act of dealing or sharing out; archaic except in specialized uses such as card dealing. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: An act of sharing something out, an old use.
19. In obsolete use, a division or portion of something; a share, part, or piece. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: An old word for a part, portion, or share of something.

## Verb

20. In obsolete use, to take action; to act, especially to act in a fight or contest. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To act or to take action, an old meaning.

## Other meanings

- (noun) A plank or board of softwood such as fir or pine, often of a standard size, used in building and carpentry.
- (verb) In baseball, to pitch: to throw the ball toward the batter for them to hit.

## Origin

**Meanings 5, 19** — 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.
**Meanings 1–4, 6–15, 18, 20** — 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").
**Meanings 16–17** — 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.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/deal (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).