Reveal oneself to be a beastly coward! (4,4)
I believe the answer is:
turn tail
'reveal' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are verbs in their base form, I cannot understand how they can define each other.
'oneself to be a beastly coward' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'a' is within the answer.
'to' could be 'til' (I've seen this in another clue) and 'til' is found in the leftover letters.
The remaining letters 'turn' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for turn tail that I've seen before include "Take flight with reversed appendage" , "Run away, deflecting rear appendage" , "escape" , "Prepare to flee" , "Cut and run" .)