Eating to rebuild energy, then work out (9)
I believe the answer is:
negotiate
'work out' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are verbs in their base form, I can't understand how one could define the other.
'eating to rebuild energy' is the wordplay.
'rebuild' is an anagram indicator (I've seen 'rebuilt' mean this).
'energy' becomes 'e' (physics symbol as in E=mc2).
'eating'+'to'='eatingto'
'eatingto' with letters rearranged gives 'negotiat'.
'negotiat'+'e'='NEGOTIATE'
'then' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for negotiate that I've seen before include "Bring about by mutual agreement" , "as diplomat does" , "treat! Yes!" , "Find a way over (a difficult path)" , "Try to reach agreement through discussion" .)