Cut short natter (3)
I believe the answer is:
gas
'natter' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'cut short' is the wordplay.
'cut' becomes 'gash' (a gash is a wound or cut).
'short' means to remove the last letter.
'gash' with its last letter removed is 'GAS'.
(Other definitions for gas that I've seen before include "Hydrogen or methane, say" , "Idle chat" , "Carbon dioxide, say" , "Gossip" , "Eg, nitrogen" .)