Smart nestling brushing off tail (4)
I believe the answer is:
chic
'smart' is the definition.
(both can mean stylish)
'nestling brushing off tail' is the wordplay.
'nestling brushing' becomes 'ch' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'off' becomes 'ice' (I've seen this in another clue).
'tail' means to remove the last letter (I've seen 'tailed' mean this (to tail something can mean to remove its end)).
'ice' with its last letter removed is 'ic'.
'ch'+'ic'='CHIC'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for chic that I've seen before include "In vogue" , "Modish" , "style?" , "Elegant and sophisticated" , "Elegant and stylishly fashionable" .)