English knight nearby in hedge (7)
I believe the answer is:
enclose
'hedge' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'english knight nearby' is the wordplay.
'english' becomes 'E' (abbreviation).
'knight' becomes 'n' (chess).
'nearby' becomes 'close' (similar in meaning).
'e'+'n'+'close'='ENCLOSE'
'in' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for enclose that I've seen before include "Hem in" , "Encompass" , "Bound" , "Surround on all sides" , "Surround, envelop" .)