Put to flight? Not quite the way (4)
I believe the answer is:
rout
'put to flight?' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'not quite the way' is the wordplay.
'not quite' means to remove the last letter.
'the way' becomes 'route' (route is a kind of way).
'route' with its final letter removed is 'ROUT'.
(Other definitions for rout that I've seen before include "Rowdy mob" , "Headlong flight" , "Total(ly) defeat" , "Defeat disastrously" , "Inflict heavy defeat on" .)