Adapted free metres in recess for shelving (9)
I believe the answer is:
deferment
'shelving' is the definition.
(shelve can mean to defer or postpone something)
'adapted free metres in recess' is the wordplay.
'adapted' indicates anagramming the letters.
'metres' becomes 'm'.
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'recess' becomes 'dent' (recess can mean a dent or cavity).
'free'+'m'='freem'
'freem' is an anagram of 'eferm'.
'eferm' placed inside 'dent' is 'DEFERMENT'.
'for' is the link.
(Other definitions for deferment that I've seen before include "Putting on ice" , "Delay" .)