I go into bat at the end of the line (4)
I believe the answer is:
bait
'end of the line' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both man-made objects as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps there's a link between them I don't understand?
'i go into bat at the' is the wordplay.
'go into' means one lot of letters goes inside another (some letters go into others).
'bat at' becomes 'ba' (this could be a standard abbreviation I've not previously seen).
'the' becomes 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects).
'ba'+'t'='bat'
'i' going inside 'bat' is 'BAIT'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for bait that I've seen before include "N in radio comms" , "Boilie, for example" , "Food to entice fish; taunt" , "Food on a hook to attract fish" , "Fishing lure" .)