Lofty's 'prior use' rumpus (8)
I believe the answer is:
superior
'lofty's' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'prior use rumpus' is the wordplay.
'rumpus' indicates anagramming the letters (rumpus can mean a disturbance).
'prior'+'use'='prioruse'
'prioruse' with letters rearranged gives 'SUPERIOR'.
(Other definitions for superior that I've seen before include "Of high standard" , "Having higher rank or better skills" , "Of greater rank or quality" , "Higher in status" , "head of monastery" .)