Abrasive pair of bachelors feeling sorry for nurses (7)
I believe the answer is:
rubbing
'abrasive' is the definition.
'pair of bachelors feeling sorry for nurses' is the wordplay.
'pair of' says to double the letters (I've seen 'pair' mean this).
'bachelors' becomes 'b' (this could be a standard abbreviation which I don't know about).
'feeling sorry for' becomes 'ruing' (to rue is to regret).
'nurses' is an insertion indicator (nurse can mean to hold onto or harbour).
'b' doubled is 'bb'.
'bb' going into 'ruing' is 'RUBBING'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Another definition for rubbing that I've seen is " Chafing".)