Short time weaving near the loom (8)
I believe the answer is:
threaten
'loom' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'short time weaving near the' is the wordplay.
'short time' becomes 't' (abbreviation for time).
'weaving' indicates an anagram.
'near'+'the'='nearthe'
'nearthe' with letters rearranged gives 'hreaten'.
't'+'hreaten'='THREATEN'
(Other definitions for threaten that I've seen before include "Put at risk, endanger" , "Foreshadow" , "Bully" , "State an intention to harm" , "Cow" .)