Work's flipping revolting, sailor holds (4)
I believe the answer is:
opus
'work's' is the definition.
(an opus is an artistic work)
'flipping revolting sailor holds' is the wordplay.
'flipping' is a reversal indicator.
'revolting' becomes 'up' (rising up or revolting).
'sailor' becomes 'os' (ordinary seaman).
'holds' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'up' in reverse letter order is 'pu'.
'pu' put inside 'os' is 'OPUS'.
(Other definitions for opus that I've seen before include "Work of 25 perhaps" , "Showing creative skill" , "Soup (anag.)" , "Composer's work" , "Musical composition in the soup" .)