Arm lifted briefly, good earlier (6)
I believe the answer is:
pistol
'arm' is the definition.
(pistol is a kind of arm)
'lifted briefly good earlier' is the wordplay.
'lifted briefly' becomes 'stol' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'good' becomes 'pi' (old-fashioned term for pious).
'earlier' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'stol' after 'pi' is 'PISTOL'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for pistol that I've seen before include "Officer's side-arm" , "A small hand-gun" , "potential killer?" , "Shakespearean - weapon" , "Type of gun" .)