French article in before cut off (5)
I believe the answer is:
prune
'cut off' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'french article in before' is the wordplay.
'french article' becomes 'un' (indefinite article in French).
'in' is an insertion indicator.
'before' becomes 'pre' (prefix meaning 'before').
'un' inserted into 'pre' is 'PRUNE'.
(Other definitions for prune that I've seen before include "A fruit; to cut back" , "Shrivelled fruit" , "Trim - dried fruit" , "Cut back the dried plum" , "Dull person" .)