deal

v. i. 1. To make distribution; to share out in portions, as cards to the players. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

They buy and sell, they deal and traffic. South. [ 1913 Webster ]

This is to drive to wholesale trade, when all other petty merchants deal but for parcels. Dr. H. More. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To act as an intermediary in business or any affairs; to manage; to make arrangements; -- followed by between or with. [ 1913 Webster ]

Sometimes he that deals between man and man, raiseth his own credit with both, by pretending greater interest than he hath in either. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To conduct one's self; to behave or act in any affair or towards any one; to treat. [ 1913 Webster ]

If he will deal clearly and impartially, . . . he will acknowledge all this to be true. Tillotson. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To contend (with); to treat (with), by way of opposition, check, or correction; as, he has turbulent passions to deal with. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

Return . . . and I will deal well with thee. Gen. xxxii. 9. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Dealt p. pr. & vb. n. Dealing. ] [ OE. delen, AS. d&aemacr_;lan, fr. d&aemacr_;l share; akin to OS. dēlian, 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry? Is. lviii. 7. [ 1913 Webster ]

And Rome deals out her blessings and her gold. Tickell. [ 1913 Webster ]

The nightly mallet deals resounding blows. Gay. [ 1913 Webster ]

Hissing through the skies, the feathery deaths were dealt. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ L. dealbatus, p. p. of dealbare. See Daub. ] To whiten. [ Obs. ] Cockeram. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. dealbatio: cf. F. déalbation. ] Act of bleaching; a whitening. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One who deals; one who has to do, or has concern, with others; esp., a trader, a trafficker, a shopkeeper, a broker, or a merchant; as, a dealer in dry goods; a dealer in stocks; a retail dealer. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. One who distributes cards to the players. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ From deal a long, narrow plank. ] (Zool.) A long, thin fish of the arctic seas (Trachypterus arcticus). [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The act of one who deals; distribution of anything, as of cards to the players; method of business; traffic; intercourse; transaction; as, to have dealings with a person. [ 1913 Webster ]

Double dealing, insincere, treacherous dealing; duplicity. --
Plain dealing, fair, sincere, honorable dealing; honest, outspoken expression of opinion. [ 1913 Webster ]