Reportedly break feet (4)
I believe the answer is:
paws
'feet' is the definition.
(paw is a kind of foot)
'reportedly break' is the wordplay.
'reportedly' shows a homophone (sound like).
'break' becomes 'pause' ('pause' can be a synonym of 'break').
'pause' is a homophone of 'PAWS'.
(Other definitions for paws that I've seen before include "Tom's feet" , "Parts of Cats" , "Feet of a quadruped" .)