It's hellish having room for wife, as much as one can bear (6)
I believe the answer is:
armful
'can bear' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both quantities as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'it's hellish having room for wife as much as one' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'room' could be 'rm' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'rm' is present in the answer.
'one' could be 'a' (a thing is one thing) and 'a' is present in the answer.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for armful that I've seen before include "As much as can be embraced" , "Someone cuddly" , "large blood transfusion!" , "As much as one limb can hold" , "Fulmar (anag.)" .)