Almost grave cat (3)
I believe the answer is:
tom
'cat' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'almost grave' is the wordplay.
'almost' means to remove the last letter (most of the word but not all of it).
'grave' becomes 'tomb' ('tomb' can be a synonym of 'grave').
'tomb' with its last letter taken away is 'TOM'.
(Other definitions for tom that I've seen before include "type pursuing queen" , "Cruise" , "Bell" , "Hoyden" , "He is associated with Dick and Harry" .)