Copper, bent, is thirsty (7)
I believe the answer is:
parched
'thirsty' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'copper bent' is the wordplay.
'copper' becomes 'p'.
'bent' becomes 'arched' (arching is a kind of bending).
'p'+'arched'='PARCHED'
'is' is the link.
(Other definitions for parched that I've seen before include "Dried out by heat" , "Extremely dry" , "Deprived of water" , "Made dry and thirsty" .)