Pound note closer to fiver surrounded by pennies (5)
I believe the answer is:
grind
'pound' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'note closer to fiver surrounded by pennies' is the wordplay.
'note' becomes 'g' (musical note).
'closer to' says to take the final letters (the letter which ends or closes the word).
'surrounded by' becomes 'in' (being contained in).
'pennies' becomes 'd' (abbreviation e.g. Lsd - pounds, shillings, pence).
The final letter of 'fiver' is 'r'.
'g'+'r'+'in'+'d'='GRIND'
(Other definitions for grind that I've seen before include "Wearisome task" , "Laborious work" , "Pound" , "Monotonous, routine work" , "Crush to powder" .)