Kenneth G. Wilson (1923–). The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. 1993.
deal (n., v.)
The principal parts of the verb are deal, dealt, dealt. The past tense and past participle end with the dental suffix, but they also display a shift in the vowel, from long to short, DEEL to DELT. Dealed is Substandard as past and past participle, occurring both as a child’s error and as a Vulgar dialectal form. The verb (intransitive) combines with with to mean “to do something with, to get involved with,” as in She’ll deal with the financial mess later. If deal means “to sell something,” it usually combines with in (He deals in rare porcelains); the exception is the slang to deal drugs. Deal also occurs uncombined in the Standard idiom to deal [the] cards. The noun, meaning “a business or other transaction or agreement,” was once slang and then became Conversational, but it is now Standard (and sometimes pejorative) in all but the most resolutely Formal prose and Oratorical speech: The party leaders offered a deal the opposition simply could not refuse. The Conversational and slang limitations still apply to the clichés big deal, no deal, done deal, and the like, however.
