Picked up appropriate brace (5)
I believe the answer is:
steel
'brace' is the definition.
(I know that brace is a is a more specific form of the action of steel)
'picked up appropriate' is the wordplay.
'picked up' indicates a 'sounds like' (homophone) clue.
'appropriate' becomes 'steal' (appropriate can mean to steal).
'steal' is a homophone of 'STEEL'.
(Other definitions for steel that I've seen before include "nerve" , "Hard iron alloy" , "Structural metal alloy" , "Mixture of carbon and iron" , "Strength, determination" .)