Identified little man hugging a maiden (5)
I believe the answer is:
named
'identified' is the definition.
('name' can be a synonym of 'identify')
'little man hugging a maiden' is the wordplay.
'little man' becomes 'ned' (short for Edward).
'hugging' indicates putting letters inside.
'maiden' becomes 'm' (cricket abbreviation).
'a'+'m'='am'
'ned' placed around 'am' is 'NAMED'.
(Other definitions for named that I've seen before include "Called" , "Entitled" , "Handled" , "Titled" , "Designated" .)