Figure an animal to be of quality (5)
I believe the answer is:
class
'figure' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'animal to be of quality' is the wordplay.
'animal' becomes 'ass' (term for a donkey).
'to' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other) (I've seen this in other clues).
'be of quality' becomes 'cl' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'ass' after 'cl' is 'CLASS'.
'an' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for class that I've seen before include "Standing" , "Kind" , "First-rate" , "sophistication" , "Type; social level" .)