Holding figure by river (6)
I believe the answer is:
tenure
'holding' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'figure by river' is the wordplay.
'figure' becomes 'ten' (I've seen this in other clues).
'by' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'river' becomes 'ure' (I have seen 'River of Wensleydale ' mean 'ure' so perhaps 'river' could also mean 'ure'**).
'ten'+'ure'='TENURE'
(Other definitions for tenure that I've seen before include "Term of office" , "Right or period to hold, university post say" , "Permanent employment right" , "Dairy product" , "Tenancy" .)