Bore in a French river (9)
I believe the answer is:
underwent
'bore' is the definition.
(past tense of 'bear', to undergo)
'a french river' is the wordplay.
'a french' becomes 'un' ('a' in French).
'river' becomes 'derwent' (I've seen this before).
'un'+'derwent'='UNDERWENT'
'in' is the link.
(Other definitions for underwent that I've seen before include "Experienced; bore" , "Was subjected to" .)