Cleaners don't have gents to put off (5)
I believe the answer is:
deter
'to put off' is the definition.
(both can mean to discourage)
'cleaners don't have gents' is the wordplay.
'cleaners' becomes 'detergents' (detergent is a kind of cleaner).
'don't have' suggests deleting specific letters.
'detergents' with 'gents' taken away is 'DETER'.
(Other definitions for deter that I've seen before include "Try to prevent" , "Discourage or prevent from doing something" , "Discourage, put off" , "Daunt" , "stop" .)