One laughing in beastly fashion? (5)
I believe the answer is:
hyena
'laughing in beastly fashion?' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I don't see how they can define each other.
'one' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'one' could be 'a' (a thing is one thing) and 'a' is located in the answer.
The remaining letters 'hyen' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for hyena that I've seen before include "Dog-like animal with howl like laughter" , "Wolf-like animal with cry like laughter" , "Its howl sounds like laughter" , "Scavenging carnivore" , "Wild mammal" .)