Particular copper having bar turned over after place emptied (8)
I believe the answer is:
peculiar
'particular' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'copper having bar turned over after place emptied' is the wordplay.
'copper' becomes 'Cu' (Cu is the chemical symbol for copper).
'having bar' becomes 'rail' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'turned over' says the letters should be written backwards.
'after' says to put letters next to each other.
'emptied' suggests removing the centre.
'place' with its centre removed is 'pe'.
'rail' backwards is 'liar'.
'cu'+'liar'='culiar'
'culiar' put after 'pe' is 'PECULIAR'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for peculiar that I've seen before include "Strange or eccentric, quite odd" , "Belonging exclusively to, person or place" , "Extraordinary" , "Unusual" , "'Strange, odd (8)'" .)