Many in herd ran round a French dam, initially (7)
I believe the answer is:
hundred
'dam initially' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both quantities as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps you can see an association between them that I don't see?
'many in herd ran round a french' is the wordplay.
'many' becomes 'd'.
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'ran' indicates anagramming the letters (letters have run around).
'round' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'a french' becomes 'un' ('a' in French).
'herd' with letters rearranged gives 'hred'.
'd' inserted into 'hred' is 'hdred'.
'hdred' placed around 'un' is 'HUNDRED'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for hundred that I've seen before include "Number; county subdivision" , "Subdivision of shire; ton" , "English county division" , "number of scores" , "part of Chilterns maybe" .)