Provoke former lover with quote (6)
I believe the answer is:
excite
'provoke' is the definition.
(exciting is a kind of provoking)
'former lover with quote' is the wordplay.
'former lover' becomes 'ex'.
'with' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'quote' becomes 'cite' ('cite' can be a synonym of 'quote').
'ex'+'cite'='EXCITE'
(Other definitions for excite that I've seen before include "Stir emotionally" , "Give rise to (a feeling)" , "Stimulate - arouse" , "Send" , "Stir up, stimulate" .)