Developed for the short head (5)
I believe the answer is:
froth
'head' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'developed for the short' is the wordplay.
'developed' indicates an anagram.
'short' means to remove the last letter.
'the' with its last letter taken away is 'th'.
'for' with letters rearranged gives 'fro'.
'fro'+'th'='FROTH'
(Other definitions for froth that I've seen before include "Lather" , "Small bubbles on a liquid" , "Mass of small bubbles" , "Spume or foam" , "Effervesce" .)