Are out of, at first (5)
I believe the answer is:
exist
'are' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'out of at first' is the wordplay.
'out of' becomes 'ex'.
'at' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'first' becomes 'ist'.
'ex'+'ist'='EXIST'
(Other definitions for exist that I've seen before include "Live" , "Be alive" , "Subsist" , "Scrape by" , "Have being or continue living" .)