Minister very nearly stood up
I believe the answer is:
rev
'minister' is the definition.
(short for reverend)
'very nearly stood up' is the wordplay.
'nearly' means to remove the last letter.
'stood up' says the letters should be written backwards (in a down clue, letters go up).
'very' with its last letter removed is 'ver'.
'ver' written backwards gives 'REV'.
(Other definitions for rev that I've seen before include "One turn of an engine, in short" , "Motor rotation, in short" , "Gun (an engine)" , "vicar?" , "Clergy title" .)