Papers, sticking together, adopt sabre rattling (10)
I believe the answer is:
pasteboard
'papers sticking together' is the definition.
(board made by pasting papers together)
'adopt sabre rattling' is the wordplay.
'rattling' indicates an anagram.
'adopt'+'sabre'='adoptsabre'
'adoptsabre' is an anagram of 'PASTEBOARD'.
(Other definitions for pasteboard that I've seen before include "Here's ticket" , "Sham" , "Layers of paper stuck together - abrades top (anag)" , "Maker of business cards" , "fraud" .)