n,

pret. and pp. dealt

To divide; to part; to separate; hence, to divide in portions; to distribute; often followed by out. Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry? Isaiah 7:8. And Rome deals out her blessing and her gold.

To scatter; to throw about; as, to deal out feathered deaths.

To throw out in succession; to give one after another; as, to deal out blows.

To distribute the cards of a pack to the players.

To traffick; to trade; to negotiate. They buy and sell, they deal and traffick.

To act between man and man; to intervene; to transact or negotiate between men. He that deals between man and man, raiseth his own credit with both.

To behave well or ill; to act; to conduct one’s self in relation to others. Thou shalt not steal, nor deal falsely, not lie. Leviticus 19:17.

To distribute cards. To deal by, to treat, either well or ill; as, to deal well by domestics. Such an one deals not fairly by his own mind. To deal in, to have to do with; to be engaged in; to practice. They deal in political matters; they deal in low humor.

To trade in; as, to deal in silks, or in cutlery. To deal with, to treat in any manner; to use well or ill. Now we will deal worse with thee. Genesis 19:9. Return-and I will deal well with thee. Genesis 32:9.

To contend with; to treat with, by way of opposition, check or correction; as, he has turbulent passions to deal with.

To treat with by way of discipline, in ecclesiastical affairs; to admonish.

Literally, a division; a part or portion; hence, an indefinite quantity, degree or extent; as a deal of time and trouble; a deal of cold; a deal of space. Formerly it was limited by some, as some deal; but this is now obsolete or vulgar. In general, we now qualify the word with great, as a great deal of labor; a great deal of time and pains; a great deal of land. In the phrases, it is a great deal better or worse, the words, great deal, serve as modifiers of the sense of better and worse. The true construction is, it is, by a great deal, better; it is better by a great deal, that is, by a great part or difference.

The division or distribution of cards; the art or practice of dealing cards. The deal, the shuffle, and the cut.

The division of a piece of timber made by sawing; a board or plank; a sense much more used in England than in the U. States.