Had some beer earlier? Hold (4)
I believe the answer is:
bate
'hold' is the definition.
(bating is a kind of holding)
'had some beer earlier?' is the wordplay.
'had' becomes 'ate' (e.g. I had an ice cream).
'some' suggests taking the first letters.
'earlier?' means one lot of letters go next to another.
The first letter of 'beer' is 'b'.
'ate' after 'b' is 'BATE'.
(Other definitions for bate that I've seen before include "decrease" , "Rage; beat the wings" , "Lessen" , "contention for old poet" .)