Great bridge card (8)
I believe the answer is:
spanking
'great' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'bridge card' is the wordplay.
'bridge' becomes 'span' ('span' can be a synonym of 'bridge').
'card' becomes 'king' (king is a kind of card).
'span'+'king'='SPANKING'
(Other definitions for spanking that I've seen before include "Physical punishment" , "Outstanding - traditional punishment for children?" , "Quick and energetic (1)" , "Very large" , "procedure for maintaining discipline!" .)