Many heading off in pursuit of refuge for poor people (4-4)
I believe the answer is:
have-nots
'poor people' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both people as well as being plural nouns.
Maybe they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'many heading off in pursuit of refuge for' is the wordplay.
'many' becomes 'lots' (lots of something).
'heading off' means to remove the first letter.
'in pursuit of' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'refuge for' becomes 'haven' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'lots' with its first letter taken off is 'ots'.
'ots' after 'haven' is 'HAVE-NOTS'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Another definition for have-nots that I've seen is " People who do not possess wealth or privilege".)