Dig out for a trainee from The North (6)

I believe the answer is:

boreal

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'north' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'dig out for a trainee' is the wordplay.
'dig out' becomes 'bore' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'for' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'trainee' becomes 'l'.
'bore'+'a'+'l'='BOREAL'

'from the' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for boreal that I've seen before include "Relating to qualities associated with the north wind" , "Related to the northern lights" .)

I've seen this clue in The Irish Times.

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