Old female dog returns after cat is injured. It’s a freak happening (3,2,3)
I believe the answer is:
act of god
'a freak happening' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I can't see how one could define the other.
'old female dog returns after cat is injured' is the wordplay.
'old' becomes 'o' (common abbreviation eg in OE for Old English).
'female' becomes 'f' (common abbreviation).
'returns' is a reversal indicator.
'after' says to put letters next to each other.
'is injured' is an anagram indicator.
'dog' reversed gives 'god'.
'cat' is an anagram of 'act'.
'o'+'f'+'god'='ofgod'
'ofgod' put after 'act' is 'ACT OF GOD'.
'it's' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for act of god that I've seen before include "Bad result of natural force" , "naturally a disaster?" , "Natural catastrophe - insurance company's get-out clause?" , "Uncontrollable natural event like earthquate" , "Natural catastrophe, force majeure" .)