Laborious raising of cap by single chap (8)
I believe the answer is:
diligent
'laborious' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'cap by single chap' is the wordplay.
'cap by' becomes 'dil' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'single' becomes 'I' (I as in one).
'chap' becomes 'gent' (both can mean a man).
'dil'+'i'+'gent'='DILIGENT'
'raising of' is the link.
This may not be correct. Some or all of it may be part of another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for diligent that I've seen before include "Working hard and conscientiously" , "I tingled, being hard-working and conscientious" , "Steady in application and industry" , "Attentive and busy" , "Assiduous" .)