Bear cub rested regularly after noon (5)
I believe the answer is:
nurse
'bear' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'cub rested regularly after noon' is the wordplay.
'regularly' means one should take alternating letters (regularly take one letter, leave next etc.).
'after' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'noon' becomes 'n' (abbreviation).
'cub'+'rested'='cubrested'
The alternating letters of 'cubrested' are 'urse'.
'urse' put after 'n' is 'NURSE'.
(Other definitions for nurse that I've seen before include "Tend - care for" , "One tending the sick" , "Professional carer" , "Type of shark" , "Cherish" .)