Refuse to associate with second attempt securing expulsion of witches? (4,2,8)
I believe the answer is:
send to coventry
'refuse to associate' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.
'second attempt securing expulsion of witches?' is the wordplay.
'second' becomes 's' (common abbreviation).
'attempt' becomes 'try' (synonyms).
'securing' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'expulsion of' becomes 'endto' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'witches?' becomes 'coven' (I've seen this in other clues).
's'+'try'='stry'
'endto'+'coven'='endtocoven'
'stry' enclosing 'endtocoven' is 'SEND TO COVENTRY'.
'with' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for send to coventry that I've seen before include "exclude" , "blank" , "Ignore" , "Ostracise" .)