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.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2022 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
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.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
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]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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.
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2012
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’.
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
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 nounFarlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
wheel 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.
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions Copyright © 2006 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
wheel and deal
Informal To engage in the advancement of one's own interests, especially in a canny, aggressive, or unscrupulous way.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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.
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer