Praise as coup starts, say (7)
I believe the answer is:
acclaim
'praise' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'as coup starts say' is the wordplay.
'starts' says to take the initial letters.
'say' becomes 'claim' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
The first letters of 'as coup' is 'ac'.
'ac'+'claim'='ACCLAIM'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for acclaim that I've seen before include "Salute, applaud" , "Enthusiastic approval" , "Great public praise" , "Welcome with shouts of applause" , "Declare" .)