He was ordered to get a place in the bows (5)
I believe the answer is:
hawse
'he was ordered to get a place in the bows' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I can't see how they can define each other.
'he was ordered to get' is the wordplay.
'ordered' indicates an anagram.
'to get' is an insertion indicator.
'was' with letters rearranged gives 'aws'.
'he' going around 'aws' is 'HAWSE'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for hawse that I've seen before include "Part of vessel's bow" , "part of ship" .)