wheel and deal, to
wheel and deal
To proactively and frequently pursue business deals or other actions of benefit to oneself or one's organization through the building and leveraging of contacts and relationships, especially in a prolific, aggressive, or unscrupulous way. You can't just expect to move up in the workplace without making some contacts. You have to wheel and deal a little. Nothing gets done on Capitol Hill without a lot of people wheeling and dealing. It's just how politics is.
wheel and deal
to take part in clever (but sometimes dishonest or immoral) business deals. John loves to wheel and deal in the money markets. Jack got tired of all the wheeling and dealing of big business and retired to run a pub in the country.
wheel and deal
Operate or manipulate for one's own interest, especially in an aggressive or unscrupulous way. For example, Bernie's wheeling and dealing has made him rich but not very popular. This term comes from gambling in the American West, where a wheeler-dealer was a heavy bettor on the roulette wheel and at cards. [Colloquial; c. 1940]
wheel and deal
If someone wheels and deals, they use a lot of different methods and contacts to achieve what they want in business or politics. He still wheels and deals around the globe. Note: This kind of activity can be called wheeling and dealing. He hates the wheeling and dealing associated with political life. Note: This expression is often used to show that you think someone is behaving dishonestly.
wheel and deal
engage in commercial or political scheming.The verb wheel is here used to mean ‘control events’. The sense is related to the noun a big wheel , meaning ‘an important person who makes things happen’.
ˌwheel and ˈdeal
(disapproving) do a lot of complicated deals in business or politics, often in a dishonest way: He’s spent the last three years wheeling and dealing in the City. ♢ I don’t want to go into politics — there’s too much wheeling and dealing. ▶ ˌwheeler-ˈdealer nounwheel and deal
in. to negotiate, cajole, and connive—aggressively. (see also wheeler-dealer.) If you can’t wheel and deal, you can’t run for elective office.
wheel and deal
Informal To engage in the advancement of one's own interests, especially in a canny, aggressive, or unscrupulous way.
wheel and deal, to
To operate or manipulate for one’s own profit. According to at least one writer, a “wheeler-dealer” was a heavy bettor on the roulette wheel and cards in the American West. However, the OED lists its first citation as approximately 1960 and suggests it comes from an important person being “a wheel” or “big wheel.” R. Dentry used it in Encounter at Kharmel (1971), “In other words, if we agree to shut up, you’ll wheel and deal some pin money for us.” The principal meaning today is to engage in scheming and shrewd bargaining.