Droop before a long story (4)
I believe the answer is:
saga
'long story' is the definition.
(a saga is a long and complicated story)
'droop before a' is the wordplay.
'droop' becomes 'sag' (synonyms).
'before' says to put letters next to each other.
'sag'+'a'='SAGA'
(Other definitions for saga that I've seen before include "Epic tale" , "long series of events" , "Long heroic, family, story" , "Long narrative" , "Long detailed story" .)