Catty iron cord (6)
I believe the answer is:
feline
'catty' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'iron cord' is the wordplay.
'iron' becomes 'Fe' (Fe is the chemical symbol for iron).
'cord' becomes 'line' (I've seen this in another clue).
'fe'+'line'='FELINE'
(Other definitions for feline that I've seen before include "16 [TOM] perhaps" , "Pertaining to cats" , "Like a leopard, say" , "An animal of the cat family" , "Of or like cats" .)