Scatter or start trotting in various directions (5)
I believe the answer is:
strew
'scatter' is the definition.
(I know that scatter is a more specific form of the action strew)
'start trotting in various directions' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'directions' could be 'ew' (abbreviations for east and west) and 'ew' is found within the answer.
The remaining letters 'str' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'or' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for strew that I've seen before include "Sprinkle" , "Scatter loosely" , "Scatter untidily" , "Scatter, spread around" .)