People taking in island air (4)
I believe the answer is:
mien
'air' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'people taking in island' is the wordplay.
'people' becomes 'men' (man is a kind of person**).
'taking in' is an insertion indicator.
'island' becomes 'i'.
'men' enclosing 'i' is 'MIEN'.
(Other definitions for mien that I've seen before include "A countenance like mine" , "Person's bearing" , "aspect" , "Air - look - manner" , "Appearance is strangely mine" .)