Effeminate applications in college grounds (8)
I believe the answer is:
campuses
'college grounds' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are plural nouns, I cannot understand how they can define each other.
'effeminate applications' is the wordplay.
'effeminate' becomes 'camp' (I've seen this before).
'applications' becomes 'uses' (I've seen this before).
'camp'+'uses'='CAMPUSES'
'in' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Another definition for campuses that I've seen is " Grounds and buildings of colleges".)