Female, pallid, keeping order (5)
I believe the answer is:
woman
'female' is the definition.
(woman is a kind of female)
'pallid keeping order' is the wordplay.
'pallid' becomes 'wan' ('wan' can be a synonym of 'pallid').
'keeping' indicates putting letters inside.
'order' becomes 'om' (order of merit).
'wan' enclosing 'om' is 'WOMAN'.
(Other definitions for woman that I've seen before include "Lady" , "With 1a [NEW] a freedom fighter" , "Mature female" , "person not going on stag-night" , "See 16" .)