Covering area around tip of Long Island (5)
I believe the answer is:
malta
'island' is the definition.
(Malta is an example)
'covering area around tip of long' is the wordplay.
'covering' becomes 'mat' (mat is a kind of covering**).
'area' becomes 'a' (maths abbreviation).
'around' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'tip of' indicates taking the first letters.
The first letter of 'long' is 'l'.
'mat'+'a'='mata'
'mata' going around 'l' is 'MALTA'.
(Other definitions for malta that I've seen before include "Island European country" , "small island" , "defiant island in WW2" , "Mediterranean island state" , "Mediterranean island awarded the George Cross" .)