Husband with a way to get stiff (4)
I believe the answer is:
hard
'stiff' is the definition.
(similar in meaning)
'husband with a way' is the wordplay.
'husband' becomes 'h' (abbreviation).
'with' says to put letters next to each other.
'way' becomes 'rd' (short for road).
'h'+'a'+'rd'='HARD'
'to get' is the link.
(Other definitions for hard that I've seen before include "Novel featuring Mr Gradgrind" , "Difficult; severe" , "Emergency lane" , "Intensely" , "Tough - difficult" .)