Animal about to get awful meal (5)
I believe the answer is:
camel
'animal' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'about to get awful meal' is the wordplay.
'about' becomes 'c' (circa).
'to get' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'awful' indicates an anagram.
'meal' is an anagram of 'amel'.
'c'+'amel'='CAMEL'
(Other definitions for camel that I've seen before include "Humped mammal" , "Saddle animal in desert regions" , "Humped ungulate" , "A ship, some say" , "Old WWI plane" .)