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Gave back little chicken covered in down (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

sagged

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'gave' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both to do with motion as well as being past participle verbs.
Maybe they are linked in a way I don't understand?

'back little chicken covered in down' is the wordplay.
'back' says the letters should be written backwards.
'little chicken' becomes 'egg' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'covered in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'down' becomes 'sad' (I've seen this before).
'egg' backwards is 'gge'.
'gge' going within 'sad' is 'SAGGED'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for sagged that I've seen before include "Slumped" , "Sank, subsided" , "Sank under pressure or tiredness" , "Hung down in the middle" , "Drooped in the middle" .)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.
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