Father appears to take in an Irishman (7)
I believe the answer is:
patrick
'an irishman' is the definition.
Both the definition and answer are singular nouns.
Perhaps there's a link between them I don't understand?
'father appears to take in' is the wordplay.
'father' becomes 'pa' (pa can mean dad or father).
'appears' becomes 'tick' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'to take' becomes 'r' (abbreviation for 'recipe', Latin for 'take').
'in' is an insertion indicator.
'tick' enclosing 'r' is 'trick'.
'pa'+'trick'='PATRICK'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for patrick that I've seen before include "Irish patron saint" , "- - Swayze: film actor" , "Ireland's patron saint" , "-- Moore, astronomer" , "Patron saint who said 'Shoo!' to serpents" .)