Object to admit van dropping behind houses (5,4)
I believe the answer is:
frown upon
'object' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are verbs in their base form, I cannot understand how one could define the other.
'admit van dropping behind houses' is the wordplay.
'admit' becomes 'ownup' (I've seen this before).
'van' becomes 'front' (van can mean the front part of something).
'dropping behind' means to remove the last letter (the word's back or behind is dropped).
'houses' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'front' with its last letter removed is 'fron'.
'ownup' inserted inside 'fron' is 'FROWN UPON'.
'to' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?