Left eviscerated in precipitous retreat (7)
I believe the answer is:
shelter
'retreat' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'left eviscerated in precipitous' is the wordplay.
'eviscerated' means to remove the middle letters (the word is disembowelled of its inside letters).
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'precipitous' becomes 'sheer' (I've seen this in another clue).
'left' with its middle taken out is 'lt'.
'lt' put into 'sheer' is 'SHELTER'.
(Other definitions for shelter that I've seen before include "Monk's hood" , "Covering that provides protection from the weather" , "Give protection" , "retreat" , "Housing or haven" .)