Maintain food can be turned away (9)
I believe the answer is:
avertable
'turned away' is the definition.
The answer and definition are not the same part of speech. However, adjectives and past participle verbs sometimes mean the same thing.
'maintain food' is the wordplay.
'maintain' becomes 'aver' (averring is a kind of maintaining).
'food' becomes 'table' (table is a kind of food).
'aver'+'table'='AVERTABLE'
'can be' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for avertable that I've seen before include "may not come into play?" , "That's not bound to happen" .)