Crossword Genius

Out of work one may take it (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

excerpt

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'it' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.

'out of work one may take' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'take' could be 'r' (abbreviation for 'recipe', Latin for 'take') and 'r' is present in the answer.
'out of' could be 'ex' ('out of' in Latin) and 'ex' is present in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for excerpt that I've seen before include "A selection or passage from" , "Piece selected from a film" , "Extract from book or film" , "Passage cut" , "part of programme" .)

I've seen this clue in The Globe and Mail.
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