Creature's cry near small dwellings ... (4)
I believe the answer is:
mews
'dwellings' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are plural nouns, I cannot see how they can define each other.
'creature's cry near small' is the wordplay.
'creature's cry' becomes 'mew' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'near' says to put letters next to each other.
'small' becomes 's' (abbreviation - e.g. clothes size).
'mew'+'s'='MEWS'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for mews that I've seen before include "Fashionable town street" , "cat's cries" , "Former stables converted into houses" , "Street of houses formerly used as stables" , "Former stable dwellings" .)