Bit embarrassed by small husband (5)
I believe the answer is:
shred
'bit' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'embarrassed by small husband' is the wordplay.
'embarrassed' becomes 'red' (I've seen this before).
'by' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'small' becomes 's' (abbreviation - e.g. clothes size).
'husband' becomes 'h'.
's'+'h'='sh'
'red' after 'sh' is 'SHRED'.
(Other definitions for shred that I've seen before include "Tear into scraps" , "Tear; very small amount" , "Torn strip of cloth" , "Bit of rag" , "(Reduce to) small piece(s)" .)