Liqueur new teacher initially refused us (10)
I believe the answer is:
chartreuse
'liqueur' is the definition.
(Chartreuse is an example)
'new teacher initially refused us' is the wordplay.
'new' indicates an anagram.
'initially' suggests taking the first letters.
The first letter of 'refused' is 'r'.
'teacher'+'r'+'us'='teacherrus'
'teacherrus' is an anagram of 'CHARTREUSE'.
(Other definitions for chartreuse that I've seen before include "green liquid" , "drink" , "The spirit" , "Carthusian liqueur" , "Green or yellow liqueur made by monks" .)