Crossword Genius

Give a new form of food (4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

wean

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'form of food' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are verbs in their base form, I cannot understand how they can define each other.

'give a new' is the wordplay.
'give' is an anagram indicator (I've seen 'giving' mean this (the letters give the letters for another word)).
'a'+'new'='anew'
'anew' with letters rearranged gives 'WEAN'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for wean that I've seen before include "Abandon" , "Gradually deprive the young of its mother's milk" , "Accustom to abstain from a former habit" , "Introduce to solid food" , "Accustom baby to take food instead of milk" .)

I've seen this clue in The Globe and Mail.
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