Lifting the foot (5)
I believe the answer is:
theft
'lifting' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'the foot' is the wordplay.
'foot' becomes 'ft' ('ft' can be a synonym of 'foot').
'the'+'ft'='THEFT'
(Other definitions for theft that I've seen before include "Illegal act of taking" , "Unlawful taking" , "A 19" , "heavy crime" , "Pilfering" .)