Pretty little thing in a bed, maybe (4)
I believe the answer is:
bead
'pretty little thing' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both man-made objects as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps there's an association between them I don't understand?
'a bed maybe' is the wordplay.
'maybe' is an anagram indicator.
'a'+'bed'='abed'
'abed' is an anagram of 'BEAD'.
'in' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for bead that I've seen before include "Drop of liquid on a surface" , "Glass ball" , "Small ornamental strung ball" , "Drop of moisture; holed piece of glass" , "Drop, part of rosary" .)