Man respected dresses member in coat (7)
I believe the answer is:
garment
'coat' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both man-made objects as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps there's a link between them I don't understand?
'man respected dresses member' is the wordplay.
'man respected' becomes 'gent' (gent is a respectful term for a man).
'dresses' is an insertion indicator (dress can mean cover).
'member' becomes 'arm' (member can mean a limb).
'gent' enclosing 'arm' is 'GARMENT'.
'in' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for garment that I've seen before include "Singular outfit" , "Article of dress" , "dress, perhaps" , "Covering" , "Something put on" .)