Fruit consumed after start of dinner (4)
I believe the answer is:
date
'fruit' is the definition.
(date is a kind of fruit)
'consumed after start of dinner' is the wordplay.
'consumed' becomes 'ate' (eating is a kind of consuming).
'after' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'start of' says to take the initial letters.
The first letter of 'dinner' is 'd'.
'ate' put after 'd' is 'DATE'.
(Other definitions for date that I've seen before include "Oval fruit" , "sell-by, for example" , "For example, sell by" , "6 [TREE]" , "Sweet edible fruit" .)