Couple, almost an item (4)
I believe the answer is:
unit
'an item' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'couple almost' is the wordplay.
'couple' becomes 'unite' (I've seen this before).
'almost' means to remove the last letter (most of the word but not all of it).
'unite' with its final letter taken off is 'UNIT'.
(Other definitions for unit that I've seen before include "One; military group" , "A considerable number of soldiers" , "Individual thing; one" , "Whole - group" , "Small group" .)