Man absorbed by strange cold (5)
I believe the answer is:
rheum
'cold' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'man absorbed by strange' is the wordplay.
'man' becomes 'he' (pronoun for a man).
'absorbed by' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'strange' becomes 'rum' (synonyms).
'he' inserted into 'rum' is 'RHEUM'.
(Other definitions for rheum that I've seen before include "Eyes watering" , "Tears of a cold" , "Watery discharge from eyes or nose" , "drips from the nose" , "Flowing water" .)