Military force works to contain Frenchman having last word (8)
I believe the answer is:
armament
'military force' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both acts as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe you can see a link between them that I can't see?
'works to contain frenchman having last word' is the wordplay.
'works' becomes 'art' (I've seen this before).
'to contain' indicates putting letters inside.
'frenchman' becomes 'm' (abbreviation for Monsieur - like 'Mr').
'having' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'last word' becomes 'amen' (I've seen this before).
'm'+'amen'='mamen'
'art' placed around 'mamen' is 'ARMAMENT'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for armament that I've seen before include "Equipping for war" , "Munitions" , "The providing of weapons" , "Weaponry" .)