River running short, offering nothing (3)
I believe the answer is:
nil
'nothing' is the definition.
(eg nil is zero in football)
'river running short' is the wordplay.
'river' becomes 'nile' (Nile River is an example).
'running short' means to remove the last letter.
'nile' with its last letter taken away is 'NIL'.
'offering' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for nil that I've seen before include "You get nothing" , "Zero, zilch" , "Latin zero" , "Nothing, zilch" , "duck" .)