Coils half of rope up, making a knot (7)
I believe the answer is:
windsor
'a knot' is the definition.
(Windsor knot is an example)
'coils half of rope up' is the wordplay.
'coils' becomes 'winds' (I've seen this before).
'half of' means to take half the letters.
'up' shows that the letters should be reversed in order (in down clue: letters go upwards).
'rope' with half the letters taken is 'ro'.
'ro' in reverse letter order is 'or'.
'winds'+'or'='WINDSOR'
'making' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for windsor that I've seen before include "Royal house (or castle)" , "Thames town" , "Royal palace" , "Queen's Berkshire residence" , "Weekend residence of the British royal family" .)