Duke superior to soldiers perhaps took a shot (5)
I believe the answer is:
drank
'took a shot' is the definition.
'duke superior to soldiers perhaps' is the wordplay.
'duke' becomes 'd'.
'superior to' means one lot of letters go next to another (in a down clue, some letters go above others).
'soldiers perhaps' becomes 'rank' (term for a line of soldiers).
'd'+'rank'='DRANK'
(Other definitions for drank that I've seen before include "Consumed alcohol" , "Tippled" , "took a drop" , "Sank" , "had a vodka, say?" .)