Badger I treated for cut (7)
I believe the answer is:
abridge
'cut' is the definition.
('abridge' can be a synonym of 'cut')
'badger i treated' is the wordplay.
'treated' indicates anagramming the letters.
'badger'+'i'='badgeri'
'badgeri' is an anagram of 'ABRIDGE'.
'for' is the link.
(Other definitions for abridge that I've seen before include "Abbreviate, shorten" , "Concentrate" , "Cut short" , "Make shorter, book say" , "Big read (anag) - shorten text" .)