A little cough, with breathlessness, upsets me (3)
I believe the answer is:
hem
'a little cough' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I don't understand how one could define the other.
'with breathlessness upsets me' is the wordplay.
'with' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'breathlessness' becomes 'h' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'upsets' shows that the letters should be reversed in order.
'me' backwards is 'em'.
'h'+'em' is 'HEM'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for hem that I've seen before include "may attract attention" , "Border; fringe" , "try to attract attention" , "A stitched border of cloth" , "Sewn edge to fabric" .)