Eva's a little way back (3)
I believe the answer is:
ave
'eva's a little way back' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this definition defines the answer.
'eva's a little way' is the wordplay.
'a little' means to remove the last letter (the word is not quite complete).
'way' is an anagram indicator (another way of arranging the letters).
'evas' with its final letter taken away is 'eva'.
'eva' is an anagram of 'AVE'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for ave that I've seen before include "Roman greeting" , "Hail in graveyard." , "Cockney's own" , "Hello to the old Romans" , "Hail as to Maria" .)