Leaves child accepting a flower declines (4,2,3)
I believe the answer is:
goes to pot
'declines' is the definition.
I know nothing about this answer so I can't tell whether it can be defined by this definition.
'leaves child accepting a flower' is the wordplay.
'leaves' becomes 'goes' (I've seen this before).
'child' becomes 'tot' (term for a young child).
'accepting' means one lot of letters goes inside another (inserted letters are accepted).
'a flower' becomes 'Po' (Italian river).
'tot' going around 'po' is 'topot'.
'goes'+'topot'='GOES TO POT'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for goes to pot that I've seen before include "loses form" , "Become ruined" , "Deteriorates" , "Approaches the snooker table" , "Becomes ruined" .)