Quelling a liberal, emulating a chicken? (8)
I believe the answer is:
allaying
'quelling' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both related to consumption as well as being present participle verbs.
Perhaps there's an association between them I don't understand?
'a liberal emulating a chicken?' is the wordplay.
'a liberal' becomes 'al' (I've seen this in other clues).
'emulating a chicken?' becomes 'laying' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'al'+'laying'='ALLAYING'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for allaying that I've seen before include "Quelling, calming" , "Diminishing (fears)" .)