Frantic hostage outside court, I see (6)
I believe the answer is:
hectic
'frantic' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'hostage outside court i see' is the wordplay.
'outside' means to remove the middle letters.
'court' becomes 'ct' (abbreviation used in road names).
'see' becomes 'C' (the word for the letter, according to Chambers).
'hostage' with its centre taken out is 'he'.
'he'+'ct'+'i'+'c'='HECTIC'
(Other definitions for hectic that I've seen before include "Frantically active" , "Involving feverish activity, flushed" , "Frantically busy" , "'Rushed, madly busy (6)'" , "Marked by intense activity" .)