Bad dresser races round to boast (9)
I believe the answer is:
scarecrow
'bad dresser' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both man-made objects as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps you can see an association between them that I don't see?
'races round to boast' is the wordplay.
'round' indicates anagramming the letters.
'to boast' becomes 'crow' (to crow about something is to boast about it).
'races' with letters rearranged gives '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" .)