Object to lay about in the country (5)
I believe the answer is:
italy
'the country' is the definition.
(Italy is an example)
'object to lay about' is the wordplay.
'object' becomes 'it' (pronoun for an inanimate object).
'to' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'about' indicates an anagram.
'lay' with letters rearranged gives 'aly'.
'it'+'aly'='ITALY'
'in' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for italy that I've seen before include "Catholic country" , "Laity (anag.)" , "Original member of the European Economic Community" , "Land for laity, oddly" , "Mediterranean country" .)