A pail put out to catch the rain in spring (5)
I believe the answer is:
april
'in spring' is the definition.
('April' is part of 'spring')
'a pail put out to catch the rain' is the wordplay.
'put out' is an anagram indicator.
'to catch' indicates putting letters inside.
'the rain' becomes 'r' (this might be a standard abbreviation I've not previously seen).
'pail' with letters rearranged gives 'apil'.
'apil' placed around 'r' is 'APRIL'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for april that I've seen before include "time of the year" , "4th month" , "March is followed by this" , "days on end" , "First of Herrick's four sweet months" .)