Meal with king in the wood (4)
I believe the answer is:
teak
'wood' is the definition.
(teak is a kind of wood)
'meal with king' is the wordplay.
'meal' becomes 'tea' (tea is a kind of meal).
'with' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'king' becomes 'k' (**).
'tea'+'k'='TEAK'
'in the' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for teak that I've seen before include "Hard wood for Kate" , "Hard wood used for furniture" , "Take to the hardwood" , "Type of tree" , "Type of wood" .)