Give people a hand (4)
I believe the answer is:
deal
'give people a hand' is the definition.
(to deal a 'hand' in card games)
'people a hand' is the wordplay.
'people' becomes 'dea' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'a hand' becomes 'L' (abbreviation for left, as in the left-hand side).
'dea'+'l'='DEAL'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for deal that I've seen before include "Distribute playing cards" , "A port; a (good) amount" , "Bargain or kind of wood" , "Agreement; hand out cards" , "Treat" .)