shuffling the cards

Verb

shuffle the cards (third-person singular simple present shuffles the cards, present participle shuffling the cards, simple past and past participle shuffled the cards)

1. (figuratively) To reorganize or restructure an organization or situation.
   • Things often look as though they have radically changed; whereas they have just taken on opposite appearances, as they so often do, to shuffle the cards and set people on a side track.2005, Julia Pascal, Women in Theatre, page 103
2. (figuratively) To randomize an ongoing process.
   • Progress in one quarter only implies retrogression in another; human endeavor with its victories and its failures means no more than that the Absolute is shuffling the cards.1902, William Munk, The Roll of the Royal College of Physicians of London, page 463
3. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see shuffle, cards.
   • Shuffle the cards and deal out four cards to each player.2000, Kirsten Larsen, Princesses Pull-Out Posters and Game Cards, page 31