Bother — nearly late for lift (4)
I believe the answer is:
drat
'bother' is the definition.
(exclamation of annoyance)
'nearly late for lift' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'late' could be 'd' and 'd' is located in the answer.
The remaining letters 'rat' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for drat that I've seen before include "Curse it!" , "Bother" , "Expression of mild annoyance" , "Expression of annoyance on DART" , "Darn it!" .)