Animal biting fox's head, put off (5)
I believe the answer is:
defer
'put off' is the definition.
(I know that put off can be written as defer)
'animal biting fox's head' is the wordplay.
'animal' becomes 'deer' (deer is a type of animal).
'biting' indicates putting letters inside (some letters bite or swallow others).
'head' indicates taking the first letters.
The initial letter of 'foxs' is 'f'.
'deer' going around 'f' is 'DEFER'.
(Other definitions for defer that I've seen before include "put on ice" , "Yield to authority" , "Delay" , "Hold back to a later time" , "Yield to another's wishes" .)