Born to eat on ship in distress (9)
I believe the answer is:
neediness
'distress' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are singular nouns.
Maybe they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'born to eat on ship' is the wordplay.
'born' becomes 'nee' ('nee' is 'born' in French).
'to eat' becomes 'dine' (to dine is to eat a meal).
'on' says to put letters next to each other.
'ship' becomes 'SS' (prefix in ship names eg SS Great Britain).
'nee'+'dine'+'ss'='NEEDINESS'
'in' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for neediness that I've seen before include "Destitution" , "Want" , "Poverty" , "Wanting state" , "Insecurity" .)