An eating place is a case for cutlery (7)
I believe the answer is:
canteen
'cutlery' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both man-made objects as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'an eating place is a case for' is the wordplay.
'an eating' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'place' becomes 'tee' (teeing is a kind of placing).
'is a case for' becomes 'cann' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'tee' placed inside 'cann' is 'CANTEEN'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for canteen that I've seen before include "NAAFI" , "A case of cutlery" , "Staff eating area" , "water bottle?" , "Set of cutlery" .)