Fellow surrounded by ruminants, put off (5)
I believe the answer is:
defer
'put off' is the definition.
(I know that put off can be written as defer)
'fellow surrounded by ruminants' is the wordplay.
'fellow' becomes 'F' (abbreviation - of a society etc.).
'surrounded by' indicates putting letters inside.
'ruminants' becomes 'deer' (deer are a type of ruminant).
'f' inserted inside 'deer' is 'DEFER'.
(Other definitions for defer that I've seen before include "Put off, postpone" , "Freed (anag.)" , "Yield to another's opinion" , "Delay" , "Accede" .)