It can pick up five from hotel (4)
I believe the answer is:
mike
'five from hotel' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both man-made objects as well as being singular nouns.
I also know that 'hotel' relates to this answer.
'it can pick up' is the wordplay.
'it' becomes 'e' ('e' can mean 'electronic' which is similar to 'IT').
'can' becomes 'kim' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'pick up' says the letters should be written backwards.
'e'+'kim'='ekim'
'ekim' backwards is 'MIKE'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for mike that I've seen before include "-- Oldfield, musician" , "Sound receiver" , "Device collecting sound from a singer, say - boy's name (abbr)" , "Comms code for M" , "Device for converting sound waves to an electronic signal (abbr)" .)