Regular small cuppa, duly emptied (6)
I believe the answer is:
steady
'regular' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'small cuppa duly emptied' is the wordplay.
'small' becomes 's' (abbreviation - e.g. clothes size).
'cuppa' becomes 'tea' (I've seen this before).
'emptied' says to hollow out the word (remove centre letters).
'duly' with its centre taken out is 'dy'.
's'+'tea'+'dy'='STEADY'
(Other definitions for steady that I've seen before include "On an even keel" , "Ovisac of some marine creatures" , "Firmly supported or balanced" , "not easily excited" , "Regular date" .)