Moving close to you, a Gallic despot (8)
I believe the answer is:
caligula
'despot' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are singular nouns.
Perhaps there's an association between them I don't understand?
'moving close to you a gallic' is the wordplay.
'moving' indicates an anagram (letters are moved around).
'close to' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'you' becomes 'u' (commonly used in online communication).
'u'+'a'='ua'
'ua' after 'gallic' is 'gallicua'.
'gallicua' is an anagram of 'CALIGULA'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for caligula that I've seen before include "Roman emperor, notorious for his cruelty" , "Emperor after Tiberius" , "Notoriously cruel Roman emperor, d. AD 24" , "Successor to Tiberius" , "Emperor who threatened to make his horse a Consul" .)