Shoot singular Puritan (5)
I believe the answer is:
sprig
'shoot' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'singular puritan' is the wordplay.
'singular' becomes 's' (abbreviation sometimes used in dictionaries).
'puritan' becomes 'prig' (both can mean a prudish person).
's'+'prig'='SPRIG'
(Other definitions for sprig that I've seen before include "Tiny branch" , "related to Spike and Brad" , "Stem of holly, for example" , "Small twig" , "Shoot - twig" .)