Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner's English Dictionary - deal

I. [c red]QUANTIFIER USES Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English. If you say that you need or have a great deal of or a good deal of a particular thing, you are emphasizing that you need or have a lot of it. ...a great deal of money... I am in a position to save you a good deal of time. QUANT: QUANT of n-uncount/def-n c darkgreen]emphasis • Deal is also an adverb. Their lives became a good deal more comfortable... He depended a great deal on his wife for support. ADV: ADV compar, ADV after v • Deal is also a pronoun. Although he had never met Geoffrey Hardcastle, he knew a good deal about him. PRON II. [c red]VERB AND NOUN USES (deals, dealing, dealt) Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English. Please look at category 7 to see if the expression you are looking for is shown under another headword. 1. If you make a deal, do a deal, or cut a deal, you complete an agreement or an arrangement with someone, especially in business. (BUSINESS) Japan will have to do a deal with America on rice imports... The two sides tried and failed to come to a deal... He was involved in shady business deals... N-COUNT 2. If a person, company, or shop deals in a particular type of goods, their business involves buying or selling those goods. (BUSINESS) They deal in antiques... ...the rights of our citizens to hold and to deal in foreign currency. VERB: V in n, V in n 3. If someone deals illegal drugs, they sell them. I certainly don’t deal drugs. VERB: V n • dealing ...his involvement in drug dealing and illegal money laundering. N-UNCOUNT: oft n N 4. If someone has had a bad deal, they have been unfortunate or have been treated unfairly. The people of Liverpool have had a bad deal for many, many years. N-COUNT: adj N 5. If you deal playing cards, you give them out to the players in a game of cards. The croupier dealt each player a card, face down... He once dealt cards in an illegal gambling joint. VERB: V n n, V n • Deal out means the same as deal. Dalton dealt out five cards to each player. PHRASAL VERB: V P n (not pron) 6. If an event deals a blow to something or someone, it causes them great difficulties or makes failure more likely. (JOURNALISM) The summer drought has dealt a heavy blow to the government’s economic record... PHRASE: V inflects 7. a raw deal: see raw see also dealings, wheel and deal