Put down a pound stake (5)
I believe the answer is:
allay
'put down' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both to do with human feelings as well as being verbs in their base form.
Maybe you can see a link between them that I can't see?
'a pound stake' is the wordplay.
'pound' becomes 'L' (the pound sign is based on an L).
'stake' becomes 'lay' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'a'+'l'+'lay'='ALLAY'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for allay that I've seen before include "Diminish or end (fears)" , "Lessen" , "Mollify or soothe, say fears" , "Assuage, ease" , "Calm, put at rest" .)