Light china plate's finish (4)
I believe the answer is:
pale
'light' is the definition.
(light in colour)
'china plate's finish' is the wordplay.
'china' becomes 'pal' (china plate is Cockney rhyming slang for mate).
'finish' says to take the final letters.
The final letter of 'plate' is 'e'.
'pal'+'e'='PALE'
(Other definitions for pale that I've seen before include "Lightly coloured" , "beyond which one is out of line?" , "Dim - wan" , "A bit of fencing" , "It's unacceptable to go beyond this" .)