Little puppet once operated in the washing tub! (5)
I believe the answer is:
dolly
'the washing tub' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both man-made objects as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'little puppet once operated' is the wordplay.
'little' means to remove the last letter (the word is not quite complete).
'puppet' becomes 'doll' (I've seen this in another clue).
'once operated' becomes 'ly' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'doll' with its final letter removed is 'dol'.
'dol'+'ly'='DOLLY'
'in' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for dolly that I've seen before include "sheep that became famous" , "Wheeled platform for moving heavy objects" , "A special sheep" , "one is not expected to drop" , "Easy cricket catch" .)