Rowdy young woman, short character, hugging a duke (7)
I believe the answer is:
ladette
'rowdy young' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.
'woman short character hugging a duke' is the wordplay.
'woman short' becomes 'lett' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'character' becomes 'e'.
'hugging' indicates putting letters inside (outside letters hug or embrace inside letters).
'duke' becomes 'd' (abbreviation).
'lett'+'e'='lette'
'a'+'d'='ad'
'lette' going around 'ad' is 'LADETTE'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for ladette that I've seen before include "Loutish girl" , "Young woman who acts as badly as a man" , "Party girl?" , "Coarse young woman" , "She knocks back too much" .)