Hold bishop's attention (4)
I believe the answer is:
bear
'hold' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'bishop's attention' is the wordplay.
'bishop' becomes 'B' (abbreviation for bishop in chess).
'attention' becomes 'ear' (having someone's ear is having their attention).
'b'+'ear'='BEAR'
(Other definitions for bear that I've seen before include "eg Paddington or Yogi" , "Shoulder - stomach" , "Brook" , "Tolerate - carnivore" , "Heavy carnivorous quadruped" .)