Hide — the king is around (7)
I believe the answer is:
leather
'hide' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'the king is around' is the wordplay.
'king' becomes 'lear' (King Lear).
'is around' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'the' inserted inside 'lear' is 'LEATHER'.
(Other definitions for leather that I've seen before include "Treated animal skin" , "Dressed hide" , "Tanned animal hide" , "Treated hide" , "Whip" .)