Makes use of blade with Excalibur almost put back? (4)
I believe the answer is:
rows
'makes use of blade' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both to do with motion as well as being verbs in their -s form.
Perhaps you can see an association between them that I don't see?
'excalibur almost put back?' is the wordplay.
'excalibur' becomes 'sword' (I've seen this in another clue).
'almost' means to remove the last letter (most of the word but not all of it).
'put back?' says the letters should be written backwards (I've seen 'put back' mean this).
'sword' with its last letter taken off is 'swor'.
'swor' in reverse letter order is 'ROWS'.
'with' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for rows that I've seen before include "Uses oars" , "Columns" , "Propels into quarrels?" , "Banks" , "Angry disputes" .)