Religious scholar cut short talk (5)
I believe the answer is:
rabbi
'religious scholar' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'cut short talk' is the wordplay.
'cut short' means to remove the last letter.
'talk' becomes 'rabbit' (rabbit can informally mean to talk).
'rabbit' with its final letter taken off is 'RABBI'.
(Other definitions for rabbi that I've seen before include "Religious leader of Jewish congregation" , "Minister of a synagogue" , "Teacher of Jewish law" , "Religious leader in a Jewish community" , "Jewish religious teacher" .)