Before dawn, time first sign of haunting spirit turned up … (5)
I believe the answer is:
night
'before dawn' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both related to time as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps you can see a link between them that I don't see?
'time first sign of haunting spirit turned up' is the wordplay.
'time' becomes 't' (abbreviation).
'first sign of' suggests taking the first letters.
'spirit' becomes 'gin' (alcoholic spirit).
'turned up' is a reversal indicator.
The initial letter of 'haunting' is 'h'.
't'+'h'+'gin'='thgin'
'thgin' reversed gives 'NIGHT'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for night that I've seen before include "Dark hours" , "'Red sky at . . . . ., shepherd's delight'" , "Hours of darkness" , "''Tender is the ...'' (F Scott Fitzgerald)|" , "Time for bed" .)