Flatter ground a tad gluey, lacking cover (7)
I believe the answer is:
adulate
'flatter' is the definition.
(adulating is a kind of flattering)
'ground a tad gluey lacking cover' is the wordplay.
'ground' indicates an anagram ('grind' the letters into a new form).
'lacking cover' means to look at the middle letters (the letters which cover the word are removed).
The middle letters of 'gluey' are 'lue'.
'a'+'tad'+'lue'='atadlue'
'atadlue' is an anagram of 'ADULATE'.
(Other definitions for adulate that I've seen before include "Rave over" , "Worship" , "Flatter excessively" , "Flatter obsequiously" , "Excessively admire" .)