Searches female and takes a chance (6)
I believe the answer is:
frisks
'searches' is the definition.
(frisk is a kind of search)
'female and takes a chance' is the wordplay.
'female' becomes 'f' (abbreviation).
'and' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'takes a chance' becomes 'risks' ('risk' can be a synonym of 'take a chance').
'f'+'risks'='FRISKS'
(Other definitions for frisks that I've seen before include "Searches manually as at security check" , "Searches, for concealed weapons or drugs, say" , "Runs about happily or searches for concealed weapons" , "Informally searches as for concealed weapons" , "Gambols and searches" .)