Lift a lever to manoeuvre (8)
I believe the answer is:
elevator
'lift' is the definition.
('elevator' can be a synonym of 'lift')
'a lever to manoeuvre' is the wordplay.
'manoeuvre' indicates an anagram.
'a'+'lever'+'to'='aleverto'
'aleverto' with letters rearranged gives 'ELEVATOR'.
(Other definitions for elevator that I've seen before include "may give you a lift" , "An American lift - going up?" , "Farm herd" , "North American lift" , "A lift in America" .)