A character man spared collapses (9)
I believe the answer is:
ampersand
'a character' is the definition.
(the character or sign which represents 'and')
'man spared collapses' is the wordplay.
'collapses' indicates an anagram.
'man'+'spared'='manspared'
'manspared' with letters rearranged gives 'AMPERSAND'.
(Other definitions for ampersand that I've seen before include "Pens drama using &" , "that is seen at the keyboard" , "Plus sign" , "character (sharing with 7)" , "Character representing "and"" .)