Assumes submissive position in joint on the outskirts of Laois (6)
I believe the answer is:
kneels
'assumes submissive position' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this defines the answer.
'joint on the outskirts of laois' is the wordplay.
'joint' becomes 'knee' (knee joint is a kind of joint).
'on' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other) (in a down clue, letters appear on others).
'the outskirts of' means to remove the middle letters (only letters on the outskirts).
'laois' with its middle taken out is 'ls'.
'knee'+'ls'='KNEELS'
'in' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for kneels that I've seen before include "Awaits blessing" , "Adopts normal posture for prayer" , "Adopts customary position for prayer" , "Shows deference" , "Genuflects" .)