Deal hands face up (4)
I believe the answer is:
swap
'deal' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'hands face up' is the wordplay.
'hands' becomes 'paws' ('paw' can be a synonym of 'hand').
'face up' shows that the letters should be reversed in order (facing upwards).
'paws' written backwards gives 'SWAP'.
(Other definitions for swap that I've seen before include "Exchange for paws" , "exchanged item" , "Exchange; hands back" , "Substitute' feet backwards" , "trade" .)