Cross and short suppressing endless rant (8)
I believe the answer is:
traverse
'cross' is the definition.
('traverse' can be a synonym of 'cross')
'short suppressing endless rant' is the wordplay.
'short' becomes 'terse' ('terse' can be a synonym of 'short'**).
'suppressing' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'endless' means to remove the last letter.
'rant' becomes 'rave' ('rave' can be a synonym of 'rant').
'rave' with its final letter removed is 'rav'.
'terse' going around 'rav' is 'TRAVERSE'.
'and' is the link.
(Other definitions for traverse that I've seen before include "Cross sideways" , "Travel across or pass over" , "cover" , "In mountaineering, a steep slope to be crossed from side to side" , "get across" .)