Nick Nolte's first to get in drink (4)
I believe the answer is:
snip
'nick' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'nolte's first to get in drink' is the wordplay.
'first' says to take the initial letters.
'to get in' is an insertion indicator.
'drink' becomes 'sip' (I've seen this before).
The initial letter of 'nolte' is 'n'.
'n' placed within 'sip' is 'SNIP'.
(Other definitions for snip that I've seen before include "Cut with shears" , "Surprisingly cheap item" , "Steal" , "Cut quickly with a scissors" , "Bargain - crop" .)