Pole free? Almost (4)
I believe the answer is:
spar
'pole' is the definition.
(spar is a kind of pole)
'free? almost' is the wordplay.
'free?' becomes 'spare' ('spare' can be a synonym of 'free').
'almost' means to remove the last letter (most of the word but not all of it).
'spare' with its last letter taken away is 'SPAR'.
(Other definitions for spar that I've seen before include "Round pole to support sail" , "Wooden pole -- box" , "Raps with wooden beam" , "Fight - something probably rigged?" , "Raps with large timber" .)