Rocket-builder whose adopted lad swallowed some chicken (10)
I believe the answer is:
stephenson
'some chicken' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.
'rocket-builder whose adopted lad swallowed' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'lad' could be 'son' (lad can informally mean a young boy) and 'son' is found within the answer.
The remaining letters 'stephen' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for stephenson that I've seen before include "Train man" , "Rocket man" , "Loco engineer" , "man of note" , "George --, rail pioneer" .)