Joy needs shelter following onset of gale (4)
I believe the answer is:
glee
'joy' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'shelter following onset of gale' is the wordplay.
'shelter' becomes 'lee' (I've seen this before).
'following' says to put letters next to each other.
'onset of' says to take the initial letters.
The first letter of 'gale' is 'g'.
'lee' put after 'g' is 'GLEE'.
'needs' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for glee that I've seen before include "Great pleasure" , "Mirth - part-song" , "Elation" , "Unrestrained joy" , "Lively or triumphant joy" .)