I proceed to support a married friend (5)
I believe the answer is:
amigo
'friend' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'i proceed to support a married' is the wordplay.
'proceed' becomes 'go' ('go' can be a synonym of 'proceed').
'to support' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'married' becomes 'm'.
'i'+'go'='igo'
'a'+'m'='am'
'igo' put after 'am' is 'AMIGO'.
(Other definitions for amigo that I've seen before include "Hispanic friend" , "A Mexican pal" , "Hispanic comrade" , "Pal from Madrid?" , "friend abroad" .)