Came by a meal, collecting it up there, perhaps (5)
I believe the answer is:
maybe
'perhaps' is the definition.
(I know that perhaps can be written as maybe)
'came by a meal collecting it up there' is the wordplay.
'MAYBE' is hidden backwards in amongst the letters.
But, I'm unsure how this is indicated.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for maybe that I've seen before include "Perhaps, might happen" , "Perhaps, possibly" .)