Sly person losing wife’s support (5)
I believe the answer is:
easel
'support' is the definition.
(easel is a kind of support)
'sly person losing wife's' is the wordplay.
'sly person' becomes 'weasel' (I've seen this before).
'losing' suggests deleting specific letters.
'wife' becomes 'w'.
'weasel' with 'w' taken away is 'EASEL'.
(Other definitions for easel that I've seen before include "The rest of artists" , "Artist's canvas holder" , "Artist's prop" , "Three-legged supporting frame" , "art supporter" .)