Proposal during dinner leaves maiden tearful (9)
I believe the answer is:
emotional
'tearful' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are adjectives. Perhaps you can see an association between them that I can't see?
'proposal during dinner leaves maiden' is the wordplay.
'proposal' becomes 'motion' (motion is a kind of proposal).
'during' indicates putting letters inside.
'dinner' becomes 'meal' (I've seen this in other clues).
'leaves' suggests deleting specific letters.
'maiden' becomes 'm' (cricket abbreviation).
'meal' with 'm' taken away is 'eal'.
'motion' inserted within 'eal' is 'EMOTIONAL'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for emotional that I've seen before include "Characterized by intense feeling" , "Arousing intense feeling" , "Thrilling" , "Moved" , "gushing" .)