Close, trapping most of the very many (7)
I believe the answer is:
several
'many' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'close trapping most of the very' is the wordplay.
'close' becomes 'seal' (sealing is a kind of closing**).
'trapping' indicates putting letters inside.
'most of' means to remove the last letter.
'very' with its last letter taken off is 'ver'.
'seal' enclosing 'ver' is 'SEVERAL'.
(Other definitions for several that I've seen before include "Various, sundry" , "Sundry, distinct" , "A few; separate" , "Indefinite number more than two or three, but not many" , "A good few" .)