Rising and dining without staff (9)
I believe the answer is:
emanating
'rising' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both related to bodily activities as well as being present participle verbs.
Perhaps they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'dining without staff' is the wordplay.
'dining' becomes 'eating'.
'without' is an insertion indicator ('without' can be similar in meaning to 'outside').
'staff' becomes 'man' (manning is a kind of staffing).
'eating' going around 'man' is 'EMANATING'.
'and' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Another definition for emanating that I've seen is " Coming out".)