Female ate up cheese (4)
I believe the answer is:
feta
'cheese' is the definition.
(type of cheese)
'female ate up' is the wordplay.
'female' becomes 'f' (common abbreviation).
'up' indicates anagramming the letters (letters get chucked up).
'ate' with letters rearranged gives 'eta'.
'f'+'eta'='FETA'
(Other definitions for feta that I've seen before include "Greek dairy product" , "A ewe's, goat's milk cheese" , "Eastern Mediterranean cheese" , "Greek salad cheese" , "Salty Greek cheese" .)