deal

• enPR: dēl, IPA^(key): /diːl/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːl

From Middle English del, dele, from Old English dǣl (“part, share, portion”), from Proto-West Germanic *daili, from Proto-Germanic *dailiz (“part, deal”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰail- (“part, watershed”).

Cognate with Scots dele (“part, portion”), West Frisian diel (“part, share”), Dutch deel (“part, share, portion”), German Teil (“part, portion, section”), Danish del (“part”), Swedish del ("part, portion, piece") Icelandic deila (“division, contention”), Gothic 𐌳𐌰𐌹𐌻𐍃 (dails, “portion”), Slovene del (“part”). Related to Old English dāl (“portion”). More at dole.

deal (plural deals)

1. (obsolete) A division, a portion, a share, a part, a piece.

   Synonyms: allotment, apportionment, distribution

   We gave three deals of grain in tribute to the king.

2. (often followed by of) An indefinite quantity or amount; a lot (now usually qualified by great or good).

   Synonyms: batch, flock, good deal, great deal, hatful, heap, load, lot, mass, mess, mickle, mint, muckle, peck, pile, plenty, pot, quite a little, raft, sight, slew, spate, stack, tidy sum, wad, whole lot, whole slew; see also Thesaurus:lot

   • 1814 July, [Jane Austen], chapter II, in Mansfield Park: […], volume I, London: […] T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 35:

     There is a vast deal of difference in memories, as well as in every thing else, and therefore you should make allowance for your cousin, and pity her deficiency.

   • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 32, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:

     There is a deal of obscurity concerning the identity of the species thus multitudinously baptized.

   • 1928, Lawrence R. Bourne, chapter 3, in Well Tackled!‎:

     “They know our boats will stand up to their work,” said Willison, “and that counts for a good deal. A low estimate from us doesn't mean scamped work, but just that we want to keep the yard busy over a slack time.”

   • 2013 June 7, David Simpson, “Fantasy of navigation”, in The Guardian Weekly‎, volume 188, number 26, page 36:

     Like most human activities, ballooning has sponsored heroes and hucksters and a good deal in between. For every dedicated scientist patiently recording atmospheric pressure and wind speed while shivering at high altitudes, there is a carnival barker with a bevy of pretty girls willing to dangle from a basket or parachute down to earth.

• (indefinite quantity): a great deal, a good deal, big deal, real deal
• afterdeal
• foredeal
• half-deal
• ordeal

• a deal is a deal

From Middle English delen, from Old English dǣlan (“to divide, part”), from Proto-West Germanic *dailijan, from Proto-Germanic *dailijaną (“to divide, part, deal”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰail- (“part, watershed”).

deal (third-person singular simple present deals, present participle dealing, simple past and past participle dealt or (nonstandard) dealed)

1. (transitive) To distribute among a number of recipients, to give out as one’s portion or share.

   Synonyms: apportion, divvy up, share, share out, portion out

   The fighting is over; now we deal out the spoils of victory.

   • a. 1740, Thomas Tickell, “An Epistle from a lady in England to a gentleman at Avignon”, in Charles Churchil, editor, The Poetical Works of Churchill, Parnell, and Tickell: With a Life of Each, published 1880, page 51:

     Rome deals out her blessings and her gold.

2. (transitive) To administer or give out, as in small portions.

   Synonyms: administer, allot, deal out, dish out, dispense, distribute, dole out, hand out, lot, mete out, parcel out, shell out

   • 1820, [Walter Scott], chapter 30, in The Abbot. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne & Co.] for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and for Archibald Constable and Company, and John Ballantyne, […], →OCLC:

     "Away, proud woman!" said the Lady; "who ever knew so well as thou to deal the deepest wounds under the pretence of kindness and courtesy?"

   • 2011 April 15, Saj Chowdhury, “Norwich 2 - 1 Nott'm Forest”, in BBC Sport‎:

     Norwich returned to second in the Championship with victory over Nottingham Forest, whose promotion hopes were dealt another blow.

3. (transitive, intransitive) To distribute cards to the players in a game.

   I was dealt four aces.

   The cards were shuffled, and the croupier dealt.

4. (transitive) deliver damage, a blow, strike or cut. To inflict.

   The boxer was dealt a blow to the head.

   • 2009, Jake Conner, Maverick, Strategy RPG: Core Rulebook, page 99

     This is a heavy-handed weapon attack that can be made with a two-handed weapon, that will deal damage equal to 4 times your size category

5. (baseball) To pitch.

   Synonyms: pitch, throw

   The whole crowd waited for him to deal a real humdinger.

6. (intransitive) To have dealings or business.
   • 1838, Boz [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], chapter 11, in Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy’s Progress. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I, II, or III), London: Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC:

     Mr. Brownlow contrived to state his case; observing that, in the surprise of the moment, he had run after the boy because he saw him running away; and expressing his hope that, if the magistrate should believe him, although not actually the thief, to be connected with thieves; he would deal as leniently with him as justice would allow.

   • 1984, 1:45:55 from the start, in Dune‎ (Science Fiction), spoken by Paul Atreides, →OCLC:

     When the spice flow stops, all eyes will turn to Arrakis. The Baron and the Emperor himself will be forced to deal with us.

7. (intransitive) To conduct oneself, to behave.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     In Deheubarth that now South-wales is hight, / What time king Ryence raign'd, and dealed right [...].

8. (obsolete, intransitive) To take action; to act.
   • 1470–1485 (date produced), Thomas Malory, “(please specify the chapter)”, in [Le Morte Darthur], book IV, [London: […] by William Caxton], published 31 July 1485, →OCLC; republished as H[einrich] Oskar Sommer, editor, Le Morte Darthur […], London: David Nutt, […], 1889, →OCLC:

     Wel said syr Uwayne go on your waye, and lete me dele.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

9. (intransitive) To trade professionally (followed by in).

   Synonyms: sell, trade, bargain

   She deals in gold.

10. (transitive, intransitive) To sell, especially to sell illicit drugs.

    Synonym: sell

    This club takes a dim view of members who deal drugs.

11. (intransitive) To be concerned with.
    • 1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 14]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC:

      Science, it cannot be too often repeated, deals with tangible phenomena.

12. (intransitive) To handle, to manage, to cope.
    • 1897, Bram Stoker, chapter 19, in Dracula, New York, N.Y.: Modern Library, →OCLC:

      Then there was the sound of a struggle, and I knew that the attendants were dealing with him.

    I can't deal with this.

    I don't think he wants to go. — Yeah, well, we're going anyway, and he can deal.

deal (plural deals)

1. (archaic in general sense) An act of dealing or sharing out.
2. (card games) The distribution of cards to players; a player's turn for this.

   Synonym: hand

   I didn’t have a good deal all evening.

   I believe it's your deal.

3. A particular instance of trading (buying or selling; exchanging; bartering); a transaction.

   Synonyms: business deal, sale, trade, transaction

   We need to finalise the deal with Henderson by midnight.

   recognizing the societal deal between capital and labor regarding retirement savings

   • 2014 August 26, Jamie Jackson, “Ángel di María says Manchester United were the ‘only club’ after Real”, in The Guardian:

     The deal, which overtakes the £50m paid to Liverpool by Chelsea for Fernando Torres in January 2011 as the highest paid by a British club, takes United’s summer spend to £130.7m, following the £27m spent on Luke Shaw, the £28m for Ander Herrera and £16m for Marcos Rojo.

4. (in particular) A transaction offered which is financially beneficial; a bargain.

   Synonyms: steal, bargain

   • 2009, The Guardian, Virginia Wallis, 22 Jul 2009:

     You also have to look at the kind of mortgage deals available to you and whether you will be able to trade up to the kind of property you are looking for.

5. An agreement between parties; an arrangement.

   Synonyms: contract, pact

   • 2009 July 20, Jennifer Steinhauer, New York Times:

     California lawmakers, their state broke and its credit rating shot, finally sealed the deal with the governor Monday night on a plan to close a $26 billion budget gap.

   He made a deal with the devil.

   I didn't deserve it, but he cut me a deal.

   to cut a deal, to cut deals

   to cut a fantastic deal, to cut a raw deal

6. (informal) A situation, occasion, or event.

   What's the deal here?

   Their new movie is the biggest deal of the year.

   I don't think that's such a big deal.

7. (informal) A thing, an unspecified or unidentified object.

   Synonyms: dealy, thingy, whazzit

   The deal with four tines is called a pitchfork.

   • 1996, Graham Yost, Broken Arrow, spoken by Major Vic "Deak" Deakins (John Travolta):

     I've never killed anybody before. I don't see what's the big deal.

• → French: deal
• → German: Deal

From Middle English dele (“plank”), from Middle Low German dele, from Old Saxon thili, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *þiljǭ (“plank, board”); cognate with Old English þille. Doublet of thill.

deal (countable and uncountable, plural deals)

1. (uncountable) Wood that is easy to saw (from conifers such as pine or fir).
   • 1722, Daniel Defoe, A Journal of the Plague Year, London: E. Nutt et al., p. 86,

     Some Houses were […] entirely lock’d up, the Doors padlockt, the Windows and Doors having Deal Boards nail’d over them,

   • 1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:

     A brisk fire burned in the grate, there were three comfortable chairs, and a deal table with a water carafe, a bucket of coals, and a few other amenities.

2. (countable) A plank of softwood (fir or pine board).
3. (countable, archaic) A wooden board or plank, usually between 12 or 14 feet in length, traded as a commodity in shipbuilding.
   • 1819, Charles Pope, Practical abridgement of the laws of customs and excise, 5th edition, page CCXLIII:

     It shall not be lawful for any person to land any timber, planks or board, deals, staves, tar, pitch, turpentine, rozin or other the commodities aforesaid, on any part of the present quays within the city of Bristol, from any vessel coming into the said port...

   • 1840, John Ramsey McCulloch, “Docks on the Thames (London)”, in A Dictionary Practical, Theoretical and Historical of Commerce and Commercial Navigation, volume 1, Thomas Wardle, page 590:

     Swedish deals from ports in the Baltic

   • 2003, François Cardarelli, Encyclopaedia of Scientific Units, Weights, and Measures, page 52:

     1 deal (US) = 12 ft x 11 in. x 3/2 in. (E)

deal (not comparable)

1. Made of deal.

   A plain deal table

   • 1899 (please specify the page), Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part:

     Deal table in the middle, plain chairs all round the walls, on one end a large shining map, marked with all the colours of a rainbow.

   • 1913, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, chapter 6, in Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. […], →OCLC:

     She glanced round the kitchen. It was small and curious to her, with its glittering kissing-bunch, its evergreens behind the pictures, its wooden chairs and little deal table.

   • 1919, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, “chapter 47”, in The Moon and Sixpence, [New York, N.Y.]: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers […], →OCLC:

     Through the open door you see a red-tiled floor, a large wooden bed, and on a deal table a ewer and a basin.

• ALDE, Adel, Dale, Dela, E.D. La., Lade, Leda, adle, dale, lade, lead

Borrowed from English deal.

• IPA^(key): /diːl/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: deal

deal m (plural deals, diminutive dealtje n)

1. (informal) deal, a transaction or arrangement
2. (informal) a deal, a bargain (a favourable transaction)

• drugsdeal

• deel
• delen

Borrowed from English deal.

• IPA^(key): /dil/

• Audio

  (file)

deal m (plural deals)

1. a deal: a transaction
2. a deal: an agreement
3. local, small scale drug trafficking

   Hypernym: trafic de drogue

   Quelques jours après l’assassinat d’un homme sous les yeux de son fils de 8 ans, le quartier semble à l’arrêt sans qu’aucune solution pérenne ne se dessine pour lutter contre les violences liées au deal. ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)

• dealer

• dealeur

• “deal” in languefrancaise.net, Bob, dictionnaire de français argotique, populaire et familier, 2023.
• “deal” in Dictionnaire français en ligne Larousse.
• “deal” in Dictionnaire Le Robert.

deal

1. (Early Middle English) Alternative form of del

• dil

Unadapted borrowing from English deal, from Middle English delen, from Old English dǣlan, from Proto-West Germanic *dailijan, from Proto-Germanic *dailijaną, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰail-.

• IPA^(key): /dil/
• Rhymes: -il
• Syllabification: deal

deal m inan

1. (business, slang) deal (transaction offered which is financially beneficial; a bargain)

   Synonym: ugoda

• deal in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Borrowed from Old Church Slavonic дѣлъ (dělŭ), from Proto-Slavic *dělъ.

• IPA^(key): [de̯al]

• Audio

  (file)

deal n (plural dealuri)

1. hill

• deluros
• delușor

From Latin deus.

• IPA^(key): /deˈal/ [d̪eˈal]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: de‧al

deal m or f (masculine and feminine plural deales)

1. (rare, relational) god, gods

“deal”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014

Unadapted borrowing from English deal.

• IPA^(key): /ˈdil/ [ˈd̪il]
• Rhymes: -il

deal m (plural deales)

1. (business) deal

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

• “deal”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014