- 1 [intransitive, transitive] to give cards to each player in a game of cards Whose turn is it to deal? deal (something) (out) (to somebody) Start by dealing out ten cards to each player. deal somebody something He dealt me two aces. Wordfindercardace, card, cut, deal, gambling, hand, jack, shuffle, suit, trump See related entries: Card games drugs
- 2[intransitive, transitive] deal (something) to buy and sell illegal drugs You can often see people dealing openly on the streets. Wordfinderdrugabuse, addict, deal, dependence, detoxification, drug, hallucinate, overdose, rehab, withdrawal See related entries: Committing crime Word Originverb Old English dǣlan ‘divide’, ‘participate’, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch deel and German Teil ‘part’ (noun), also to dole. The sense ‘divide’ gave rise to ‘distribute’, hence sense 1 of the verb and 'deal somebody/something a blow'; the sense ‘participate’ gave rise to ‘have dealings with’, hence senses 2 of the verb and 'deal with'/'deal in'.Extra examples Not all complaints are so easily dealt with. Our factory deals directly with its customers. The business deals in second-hand books. The two issues should be dealt with separately. This topic is dealt with at greater length in the following chapter. We discussed different ways of dealing with the problem. You have not dealt fairly with me. He was sent to jail for dealing drugs to his friends.Idioms
- 1to be very shocking or harmful to somebody/something Her sudden death dealt a blow to the whole country.
- 2to hit somebody/something
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BrE BrE//diːl//; NAmE NAmE//diːl//
Verb Forms present simple I / you / we / they deal BrE BrE//diːl//; NAmE NAmE//diːl//
he / she / it deals BrE BrE//diːlz//; NAmE NAmE//diːlz//
past simple dealt BrE BrE//delt//; NAmE NAmE//delt//
past participle dealt BrE BrE//delt//; NAmE NAmE//delt//
-ing form dealing BrE BrE//ˈdiːlɪŋ//; NAmE NAmE//ˈdiːlɪŋ//
Card games, Committing crimeused to tell somebody that they cannot change a situation so they must accept it That's the way it is, so deal with it!
(usually used in the progressive tenses) to do a lot of complicated deals in business or politics, often in a dishonest way More Like This Rhyming pairs in idioms doom and gloom, fair and square, high and dry, huff and puff, name and shame, slice and dice, thrills and spills, wear and tear, wheel and deal, wine and dineSee worksheet. Phrasal Verbsdeal indeal outdeal with
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