Beefy cuts across river and barely runs (7)
I believe the answer is:
streaks
'barely runs' is the definition.
(to streak is to run while naked or bare)
'beefy cuts across river' is the wordplay.
'beefy cuts' becomes 'steaks' (a steak is a cut of beef).
'across' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'river' becomes 'r' (abbreviation for river).
'steaks' going around 'r' is 'STREAKS'.
'and' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for streaks that I've seen before include "Skaters (anag.)" , "Stripes for skaters" , "Runs naughtily nude in public" .)