Bad dresser races round to boast (9)
I believe the answer is:
scarecrow
'bad dresser' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both man-made objects as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps there's an association between them I don't understand?
'races round to boast' is the wordplay.
'round' indicates an anagram.
'to boast' becomes 'crow' (to crow about something is to boast about it).
'races' is an anagram of 'scare'.
'scare'+'crow'='SCARECROW'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for scarecrow that I've seen before include "Device for protecting crops" , "What drives away" , "Farm field figure" , "Ragged figure in field" , "shabby one" .)