Duke, licensed to fly, drops (10)

I believe the answer is:

downswings

'drops' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I cannot judge whether it can be defined by this definition.

'duke licensed to fly' is the wordplay.
'duke' becomes 'd' (abbreviation).
'licensed to fly' becomes 'owns wings' (owning wings could let you fly).
'd'+'ownswings'='DOWNSWINGS'

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.

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