In the time of Henry VIII. Deal was merely a fishing village standing half-a-mile from the sea, but the growth of the English navy and the increase of trade brought men-of-war and merchant ships in increased numbers to the Downs. Deal began to grow in importance, and Lower or New Deal was built along the shore. The prosperity of the town has ever since depended almost entirely on its shipping trade. In 1699 the inhabitants petitioned for incorporation, since previously the town had been under the jurisdiction of Sandwich and governed by a deputy appointed by the mayor of that town; William III. by his charter incorporated the town under the title of mayor, jurats and commonalty of Deal, and he also granted a market to be held on Tuesday and Saturday, and fairs on the 25th and 26th of March, and on the 30th of September and 1st of October, with a court of Pie Powder. The Cinque Ports were first represented in the parliament of 1265; the two members returned by Sandwich represented Sandwich, Deal and Walmer, until they were disenfranchized by the act of 1885.
DEAL. (1) (A common Teutonic word for a part or portion, cf. Ger. _Teil_, and the Eng. variant "dole"), a division or part, obsolete except in such phrases as "a great deal" or "a good deal," where it equals quantity or lot. From the verb "to deal," meaning primarily to divide into parts, come such uses as for the giving out of cards to the players in a game, or for a business transaction. (2) (Also a Teutonic word, meaning a plank or board, cf. Ger. _Diele_, Dutch _deel_), strictly a term in carpentry and joinery for a sawn plank, usually of pine or fir, 9 in. wide and 2 to 4½ in. thick. (See JOINERY.) The word is also used more loosely of the timber from which such deals are cut, thus "white deal" is used of the wood of the Norway spruce, and "red deal" of the Scotch pine.
DEAN (Lat. _decanus_, derived from the Gr. [Greek: deka], ten), the style of a certain functionary, primarily ecclesiastical. Whether the term was first used among the secular clergy to signify the priest who had a charge of inspection and superintendence over two parishes, or among the regular clergy to signify the monk who in a monastery had authority over ten other monks, appears doubtful. "Decurius" may be found in early writers used to signify the same thing as "decanus," which shows that the word and the idea signified by it were originally borrowed from the old Roman military system.