At the very commencement of trouble, get away for a rest (8)
I believe the answer is:
outbreak
'at the very commencement of trouble' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this defines the answer.
'away for a rest' is the wordplay.
'away' becomes 'out' (synonyms).
'for' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'a rest' becomes 'break' (I've seen this before).
'out'+'break'='OUTBREAK'
'get' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for outbreak that I've seen before include "Sudden development of disease etc" , "Sudden onset (of war, disease, etc)" , "disturbance" , "Sudden start" , "Sudden spontaneous occurrence" .)