Careful Words

deal (n.)

deal (v.)

deal (adv.)

deal (adj.)

And deal damnation round the land.

Alexander Pope (1688-1744): The Universal Prayer. Stanza 7.

  Gratiano speaks an infinite deal of nothing, more than any man in all Venice. His reasons are as two grains of wheat hid in two bushels of chaff: you shall seek all day ere you find them, and when you have them, they are not worth the search.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): The Merchant of Venice. Act i. Sc. 1.

  O, monstrous! but one half-pennyworth of bread to this intolerable deal of sack!

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): King Henry IV. Part I. Act ii. Sc. 4.

Oh, what a deal of scorn looks beautiful

In the contempt and anger of his lip!

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Twelfth Night. Act iii. Sc. 1.

A deal of skimble-skamble stuff.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): King Henry IV. Part I. Act iii. Sc. 1.