Look around a ship for rope (5)
I believe the answer is:
lasso
'rope' is the definition.
(lassoing is a kind of roping)
'look around a ship' is the wordplay.
'look' becomes 'lo'.
'around' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'ship' becomes 'ss'.
'a'+'ss'='ass'
'lo' enclosing 'ass' is 'LASSO'.
'for' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for lasso that I've seen before include "One may be caught by this" , "Somehow catch" , "Long rope with running noose" , "snare" , "Belgian composer" .)