Partners embracing single hour of prayer (5)
I believe the answer is:
nones
'hour of prayer' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'partners embracing single' is the wordplay.
'partners' becomes 'ns'.
'embracing' is an insertion indicator.
'single' becomes 'one' (I've seen this before).
'ns' going around 'one' is 'NONES'.
(Other definitions for nones that I've seen before include "part of office" , "One of the seven Catholic canonical hours" , "Hour of prayer" , "Roman Catholic service read about 3pm" , "Church service held at the 9th hour" .)