Fire occasionally dries maiden (7)
I believe the answer is:
dismiss
'fire' is the definition.
(I know that fire can be written as dismiss)
'occasionally dries maiden' is the wordplay.
'occasionally' means one should take alternating letters.
'maiden' becomes 'miss' (I've seen this before).
The alternating letters of 'dries' are 'dis'.
'dis'+'miss'='DISMISS'
(Other definitions for dismiss that I've seen before include "Remove from office" , "Sack (from job)" , "Drop" , "Throw out" , "Fire - cashier" .)