Long time at the Pole (5)
I believe the answer is:
yearn
'long' is the definition.
(I know that long can be written as yearn)
'time at the pole' is the wordplay.
'time' becomes 'year' (I've seen this before).
'at' says to put letters next to each other.
'the pole' becomes 'n' (abbreviation for North, as in North Pole).
'year'+'n'='YEARN'
(Other definitions for yearn that I've seen before include "Desire strongly" , "Pant - pine" , "Have a great longing" , "wish" , "Feel desire" .)