Complaint from empty fellow, as it were (4)
I believe the answer is:
moan
'complaint' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'empty fellow as it were' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'empty' could be 'o' and 'o' is found in the answer.
'fellow' could be 'man' (I've seen this before) and 'man' is found in the leftover letters.
No letters remain.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'from' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for moan that I've seen before include "Complain, grumble" , "Indicate pain" , "Whinge" , "Lament; grumble" , "Low sound of pain" .)