Three tenth deals [parts of an ephah] of flour. Num. xv. 9.

As an object of science it [the Celtic genius] may count for a good deal . . . as a spiritual power. M. Arnold.

She was resolved to be a good deal more circumspect. W. Black.

* It was formerly limited by some, every, never a, a thousand, etc.; as, some deal; but these are now obsolete or vulgar. In general, we now qualify the word with great or good, and often use it adverbially, by being understood; as, a great deal of time and pains; a great (or good) deal better or worse; that is, better by a great deal, or by a great part or difference.

The deal, the shuffle, and the cut. Swift.

* Whole deal is a general term for planking one and one half inches thick.

Deal tree, a fir tree. Dr. Prior.

Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry? Is. lviii. 7.

And Rome deals out her blessings and her gold. Tickell.

The nightly mallet deals resounding blows. Gay.

Hissing through the skies, the feathery deaths were dealt. Dryden.

They buy and sell, they deal and traffic. South.

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

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

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

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.

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.

Return . . . and I will deal well with thee. Gen. xxxii. 9.