Knock down animal and take a nap (8)
I believe the answer is:
bulldoze
'knock down' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'animal and take a nap' is the wordplay.
'animal' becomes 'bull' (bull is a kind of animal).
'and' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'take a nap' becomes 'doze'.
'bull'+'doze'='BULLDOZE'
(Other definitions for bulldoze that I've seen before include "Flatten with a large powerful tractor" , "Completely flatten" , "Raze to the ground" , "Mechanically flatten" , "Clear earth with powerful machine, or force through" .)