Senior citizen alarmed shaky knight (8)
I believe the answer is:
alderman
'senior citizen' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both people as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps you can see a link between them that I don't see?
'alarmed shaky knight' is the wordplay.
'shaky' indicates an anagram.
'knight' becomes 'n' (chess abbreviation).
'alarmed' with letters rearranged gives 'alderma'.
'alderma'+'n'='ALDERMAN'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for alderman that I've seen before include "superior member of county council" , "Civic officer" , "Old municipal official" , "In England and Wales, a former senior local councillor" , "Member of a local legislative body" .)