Hide southern family (4)
I believe the answer is:
skin
'hide' is the definition.
(a hide is an animal skin)
'southern family' is the wordplay.
'southern' becomes 's' (abbreviation).
'family' becomes 'kin' (synonyms).
's'+'kin'='SKIN'
(Other definitions for skin that I've seen before include "Remove the outer layer" , "Hide - flay" , "Outer surface" , "Swindle" , "coat" .)