Defrost fruit after time (4)
I believe the answer is:
thaw
'defrost' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'fruit after time' is the wordplay.
'fruit' becomes 'haw' (I've seen this before).
'after' says to put letters next to each other.
'time' becomes 't'.
'haw' after 't' is 'THAW'.
(Other definitions for thaw that I've seen before include "snow does eventually" , "Become warmer" , "Morse actor; melt" , "detente" , "when the temperature rises?" .)