Short-lived English friend crossing border with hesitation (9)
I believe the answer is:
ephemeral
'short-lived' is the definition.
(I know that short-lived can be written as ephemeral)
'english friend crossing border with hesitation' is the wordplay.
'english' becomes 'E' (abbreviation as in OED).
'friend' becomes 'pal' (pal can mean a friend).
'crossing' is an insertion indicator (to cross can mean to go over or around).
'border with' becomes 'hem' (I've seen this before. I am not sure about the 'with' bit.).
'hesitation' becomes 'er' (sound made while hesitating - um, er).
'hem'+'er'='hemer'
'pal' going around 'hemer' is 'phemeral'.
'e'+'phemeral'='EPHEMERAL'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for ephemeral that I've seen before include "life's too short" , "Fleeting, lasting only a short time" , "Short lived" , "Short-lived, passing quickly" , "Transitory" .)