Dad came back with little hunger (8)
I believe the answer is:
appetite
'hunger' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'dad came back with little' is the wordplay.
'dad' becomes 'pa' ('pa' can be a synonym of 'dad').
'came back' says the letters should be written in reverse.
'with' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'little' becomes 'petite' ('petite' can be similar in meaning to 'little'**).
'pa' backwards is 'ap'.
'ap'+'petite'='APPETITE'
(Other definitions for appetite that I've seen before include "Hunger; desire" , "A feeling of craving something" , "Natural craving" , "Justification for dining" , "Hunger or zeal" .)