Cut off sergeant manoeuvres (8)
I believe the answer is:
estrange
'cut off' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'sergeant manoeuvres' is the wordplay.
'manoeuvres' indicates an anagram.
'sergeant' is an anagram of 'ESTRANGE'.
(Other definitions for estrange that I've seen before include "Arouse hostility" , "As Regent (anag.)" , "Drive away" , "separate" , "disunity" .)