Cutting off female with a band (8)
I believe the answer is:
shearing
'cutting off' is the definition.
(shearing is a kind of cutting off)
'female with a band' is the wordplay.
'female' becomes 'she' ('she' refers to a woman).
'with' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'band' becomes 'ring' (a ring is a band of metal).
'she'+'a'+'ring'='SHEARING'
(Other definitions for shearing that I've seen before include "George, the blind pianist" , "Removing sheep's wool" , "Removing wool from sheep" , "Breaking off due to strain" , "George - - (jazz pianist)" .)