Expectation of the man without work (4)
I believe the answer is:
hope
'expectation' is the definition.
(hope is a kind of expectation)
'the man without work' is the wordplay.
'the man' becomes 'he' (**).
'without' means one lot of letters goes inside another ('without' can be similar in meaning to 'outside').
'work' becomes 'op' (abbreviation for opus).
'he' going around 'op' is 'HOPE'.
'of' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for hope that I've seen before include "Companion to faith and charity" , "Bob --, US comic" , "confidence" , "The last thing in Pandora's Box" , "Expect and wish" .)