General and relative time (5)
I believe the answer is:
grant
'general' is the definition.
(I know this)
'relative time' is the wordplay.
'relative' becomes 'gran' (I've seen this before).
'time' becomes 't' (abbreviation).
'gran'+'t'='GRANT'
'and' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for grant that I've seen before include "Make" , "19th century president" , "former president" , "Monetary aid" , "Bestow; bursary" .)