A table leg is smeared in trifle (9)
I believe the answer is:
bagatelle
'trifle' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'a table leg is smeared' is the wordplay.
'is smeared' indicates an anagram.
'a'+'table'+'leg'='atableleg'
'atableleg' is an anagram of 'BAGATELLE'.
'in' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for bagatelle that I've seen before include "musical composition" , "lovely trinket" , "Unimportant thing" , "Trifle - game with pins and balls" , "Something trifling and negligible" .)